Mirrors of Memory2 Reflections of Another Timeline
by I am No Dartboard
Summary: Sequel to Mirrors of Memory. When Qui Gon takes a new Padawan, things get a little weird for him, Obi Wan, Anakin, Luke, Ani, Jar Jar, Padme, Taun We and Boba. Please Review. Rating to be safe. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Tiv and the Floating Rock of Doom!

A/N I'm baaaaack! So, this one takes place only a few months after the epilogue of 'Mirrors of Memory'. Those of you who haven't read it, go back and read it now. Pause Okay, have you read it yet? Good. Like I said, this one is a few months later, Luke and Ani are still Padawans, Obi-Wan and Anakin are being driven insane by them, and Qui-Gon and Taun We are laughing their heads off. But meanwhile, elsewhere on Coruscant….

Disclaimer: I didn't own this last time, I didn't own this yesterday, and I don't own it today. But I'll own it tomorrow! Just kidding. If I ever begin to own any of the characters you recognize, believe me, you guys will be among the first to know. And no, this is not what was happening meanwhile. The next thing is!

A/N2 Ha-ha, this isn't what's happening meanwhile either. Okay, that joke's getting old. Ooh, just one thing I remembered. Tiv's name is pronounced just as its spelt, rhymes with 'Give', Nami is Name-ie, and Colac is Cole-ach. Their last name is Mare (as in horse) Los (as in 'the' in Spanish, or for those of you who don't speak it, rhymes with Coast minus the t)

Tivania Merlos or 'Tiv' hurled the rock against the wall and stormed back to her seat. She sat there for a few minutes just glaring at it, ignoring the noise from outside, and then got up and picked it up.

"Please?" she asked the rock, for only the fifteenth time that day. As rocks tend to do, it ignored her.

Tiv glared at it. She supposed she shouldn't complain. She was lucky. Lucky to have a room to stay in after her mother died. Sure, it was small, and the noise from the bar it connected to kept her up until all hours, but it was kind of her best friend Nami to have gotten it for her. Nami's parents ran the bar, so it had been a simple matter to get the room for Tiv and her younger brother Colac.

The other thing people said meant she was lucky she didn't want to think about. She would have happily given it to any stranger off the street, if she could. At that thought, Tiv paused. Maybe she _could_ give it away. Had anyone really ever tried before? She didn't know, but she was going to find out.

Tiv grinned to herself. How many times would this happen? Always, she would get an idea to get rid of this… curse, and spend hours searching every possible resource until she found another reason that this idea, too, would not work. Always.

Still laughing internally at the repetitiveness of her life, knowing if she didn't laugh she would cry, she turned again to the rock, and her eyes widened in surprise. It had lifted and was floating in midair.

"Colac, Colac, look! I did it!" terrified to move anything else, Tiv kicked the bed in the corner. Her brother groaned and rolled out of it. "Tiv, what do you…?" He stopped. He had seen the floating rock.

"I did it!" cried Tiv again.

"Yes, I can see that," muttered Colac, picking himself up off the dirty floor. "Now that you're the all-mighty Jedi, maybe you could clean up around here a little."

"Maybe _you_ could," retorted his sister. "You're the one whose home all day."

The two siblings glared at each other. Tiv half-wished they could be really mad, like they used to be before all they had was each other. But, of course, common sense ruled out.

They looked alike; at least, people said they did. Both were small for their ages (eight and thirteen), with too thick hair, although Colac's was light brown while Tiv's was black. They both had green eyes, and their faces were long, although neither was very good-looking.

"Well, now that it works, maybe you'll stop trying to get rid of it," Colac said finally.

Tiv scowled. "Younger brothers have no right to as much common sense as you have," she snapped, and he grinned.

"I got yours," Colac retorted. "Or someone else's. Either way, I'm making up for what you lack."

"Give me my common sense back!" howled Tiv, tackling him. They rolled around for a moment, laughing, before Colac sat up.

"You have you common sense, now do you have the intelligence to know what to do with it?" he asked.

"Give me my intelligence back!"

Unnoticed by either of them, the rock had dropped back to the ground when they had first started fighting. Tiv wished, in the back of her mind, that her life would return to normal as quickly as the rock had. But she forced herself not to think of what had happened.

That would have been a good tactic, if she and Colac were the only ones who knew.

Please Review! I can't continue the story if I don't know that you guys are reading it!


	2. Padawan Pranks

"Ani!"

Perched on a balcony, two boys looked up at the sound. They could have been brothers, twins, even, although not identical. They both wore their blonde hair short but for a single braid, and their blue eyes carried the same expression of careless worry. Which is a very bad description, but that's what they looked like.

Dressed identically, their faces were similar enough to have people refer to the as brothers quite often. They _mostly_ corrected the strangers, explaining that they were just friends, unless they wanted to confuse someone. The explanation that they were friends was not _entirely_ correct, but it was better than saying that they were father and son in the wrong timeline so they were the same age.

Luke Skywalker leaned over the balcony edge to look at the gardens below. "He looks really mad," he commented, nodding at the bearded man who was in the gardens.

"Scared witless, I am," retorted Ani Skywalker, imitating Master Yoda. Both boys giggled.

"Someday you're going to slip up and do that in front of the Council, and I will be laughing my head off," Luke told him.

Ani grinned. "Do you think they'd expel me from the Order for that?" he asked.

"A sane Council would, but our Council isn't sane, they're just…" Luke fumbled for the words.

"Blithering idiots who sit in a semi-circle all day and yet get nothing done besides commenting how incompetent the rest of us are," offered Ani, quoting their masters' friend Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Yes indeed."

They sat in silence for a moment before Luke asked, "What did you do? It must have been something big."

He never would admit it, but he was a little upset that Ani had left him out. The two boys had always informed and normally included the other in large pranks. Although Luke wasn't going to say that, Ani realized what he was thinking immediately.

"It wasn't quality so much as quantity," he explained. "Anything I do I've probably done about fifty times before. This week."

"You have a talent for trouble, my friend," Luke told him, imitating his master, Anakin.

Ani snorted, remembering the specific conversation, which had ended with Qui-Gon listing everything Anakin had ever done to show his own 'talent for trouble'. It had lasted quite a while, to say the least.

"Hope you don't get into _too_ much trouble," Luke said, breaking into his thoughts. Ani looked at him, confused.

"We're going with Boba to mess with Master Windu's speeder tonight, remember?" he prompted.

"Oh, yeah! Well, don't worry. If I have to stay in, I can always sneak out."

"Ani!"

"He's starting to get mad," Luke commented.

"Starting?" asked Ani.

"He's starting to get madder," Luke corrected. "You'd better get down there, or you'll _really_ be in trouble."

Ani sighed and leaned over the balcony edge. "Up here, Master," he called, waving.

"Ani, why didn't you answer when I called you?" demanded Obi-Wan Kenobi's voice.

"I didn't here you, Master," replied the boy pertly. Luke shook his head, wishing his friend could stay out of trouble a _little_ bit.

"You- Oh, never mind! Just get down here!" Obi-Wan snapped.

"Coming, Master!" Ani turned to Luke. "Normally I'd hide," he muttered. "This speeder thing had better be worth it."

"It will be," Luke promised. He watched his friend go and turned to look at the balcony next to theirs. Apparently, years ago, Obi-Wan had fallen off that balcony when he'd had a vision of an alternate universe. Luke himself had come from a universe like it, as had Ani, but he couldn't imagine his friend's stoic master doing something as silly as falling off a balcony.

He hoped that Obi-Wan wouldn't stop to wonder why his Padawan had been perched on Qui-Gon's balcony. Qui-Gon had been absent for the past few weeks on a mission, and the boys used his quarters as a place to hide the tools they would use that night against Mace Windu's speeder.

Luke sighed and started picking up their latest additions to hide them in the closet they had selected. Since he first began his training, five years ago, Qui-Gon had been like a second master to the two boys. Their masters had a very close relationship with him, the Kamioan Taun We, Senator Padmé Amidala and the Gungan called Jar Jar Binks. Each of these people were much-loved caretakers to the boys and their friend Boba Fett, but Qui-Gon was the closest, and Luke missed him

He shook those thoughts off. Silly of him to miss Qui-Gon when he knew that he'd be back in three days. He just needed to make some mischief. Tonight would help, and if it didn't, well, there was always _someone_ to prank in the Jedi Temple.

Thank you, Shadow Padawan and Fell Dragon for reviewing, and also Fell Dragon and Alley Parker for favoriting or alerting. I love you both platonically. Anyway, this is a little short, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to update, but something happened that I'm very excited about. I JUST GOT TWO KITTENS! And they're both black cats, twin brothers, completely sweet. I love them, so that's why I haven't updated.

So even if it's short, the next one's not quite as short, but I haven't posted it yet. I've gotten a lot of it written, though. And, Fell, how did you know about Windu's speeder _before_ I posted this? Are you psychic or something?


	3. Meeting Boba Fett

Tiv glared at the ground and wished there were more rocks in Coruscant so that she could kick one at Gerish. She knew that she probably shouldn't ill-wish people so often, but she couldn't help it. If only Gerish weren't so _infuriating_…

She stormed off in the opposite direction, mentally listing all the reasons she had to be angry with Gerish.

He was constantly swiping all of Colac's things, because he knew that Tiv couldn't defend him.

He knew perfectly well that he could keep Tiv from working so that she'd get fired.

He was walking off in the exact direction of her home, so she had to take the long way home or she'd seem like she wasn't angry with him.

He was a total jerk.

Nami had a crush on him, which got _really_ annoying after a while, because Tiv couldn't bad-mouth him in front of her.

Everyone seemed to think that he was a nice little boy, except for Tiv and Colac, because he acted _so_ nice… around everyone else.

He knew that her parents were dead and he didn't even _care_. Tiv would have definitely preferred if he didn't know at all.

He was a stupid idiot.

He took complete advantage of the fact that everyone preferred him to Tiv, just because she had a bad attitude, so people said.

Everything he did was so general that she didn't have a tenth thing to hate him for.

Tiv couldn't help but wince a little at the stupidity of the last statement. It didn't mean that Gerish wasn't horrible, it just meant… that she had to brush up on her listing skills.

To make herself feel better, Tiv decided to stop and buy an ice cream cone on her way home. That would definitely make the walk seem shorter.

"_Why do I have the feeling you're going to be the death of me?" the man said gruffly. The other man, a younger one of about eighteen or nineteen, gave him a pleading look._

"_Don't say that, Master. You're the closest thing I _have_ to a father."_

"_Then why don't you ever _listen_ to me," his master asked exasperatedly. The boy's face turned rueful._

"_I _am_ trying, Master."_

Tiv blinked in surprise as the image faded. Someone bumped roughly into her, and she started walking automatically, still considering the images.

The two men looked to be Jedi. They were wearing the same robes, and Tiv had thought she'd seen lightsabers. The younger one had called the older one 'Master' and he was wearing a braid that she thought symbolized and apprentice… P-something. She couldn't remember what they were called.

But why had she seen them? Yes, she could use the Force, but she had never heard of anyone, Jedi or no, who could see things like that. Of course, she'd be the first to admit that she hadn't heard of everything, but still… It made no sense.

Nothing ever did.

"Hey, you're dropping your ice cream!" a voice shouted suddenly. Tiv turned around and saw a tall boy about few years older than her about to shove past her. Suddenly registering his comment, she reached out and caught the ice cream as it fell off of her cone. The boy smirked and shoved her aside.

Scowling, Tiv decided that she didn't know him well enough to have to take _another_ route home. She tried to put the ice cream back on the cone, and, when that failed, popped it into her mouth and trailed after him.

If that boy hadn't interrupted her, would she have seen those images again? What would have happened to those people? Were they real? And why, of all people, was _she_ seeing visions of Jedi?

"Hey," said someone unexpectedly. Tiv looked up automatically and saw the boy who had warned her about the ice cream walking backwards, watching her. "Are you following me?" he asked.

Tiv glared at him. "No," she snapped. "I just happen to have been heading that way before you bumped into me, and I've already had to go the other way because someone annoyed me and I didn't want to look like I was following them, and I _really_ don't want to take a longer way home than the long way I'm already taking!"

The boy blinked. "What?"

"Oh, never mind!" exclaimed Tiv exasperatedly, and started to walk again.

"I'm Boba," the boy told her, falling into step besides her. "Boba Fett."

"Good for you." Fett. Where had she heard that name before?

"And you are?"

Tiv gave him a disgusted look. "Tiv," she said finally, if only to stop him from staring at her.

"Nice to meet you."

"No it's not," she told him.

He blinked, surprised. "Huh?"

"It's not nice to meet you because you pushed me, and I dropped my ice cream so now my hand's cold, and I have to take the long way home, and you're annoying and I've had a _really_ bad day, and that's how I met you so its not nice at all!"

"Okay, now you're _really_ confusing me," Boba commented.

"Good," she retorted, for lack of anything else to say.

"Are you always this weird?" he demanded.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," snapped Tiv. There was a short pause, and then the boy said, "I don't know anybody that weird."

"Yes you do. Me."

"I thought you said it wasn't nice to meet me."

"I did. But that doesn't mean that I didn't meet you. Goodbye."

"What?"

"Goodbye. Go away. See you later, preferably not," Tiv said, dropping back so that she wasn't walking with him anymore."

"Okay," muttered Boba. "Bye, Tic."

"It's TIV!" she shouted after him. He waved, but didn't respond. "It _is_," she told a random passerby fiercely. He shrugged and moved on.

Scowling, Tiv decided to follow Boba and yell at him for getting her name wrong. There probably were a lot of other options, but she had to protect her dignity.

Boba obviously didn't expect anyone to follow him. He was walking quickly, but looked more as if he thought he was late than he thought he was being followed. Besides that, he also had much longer legs than Tiv, and so she found it very hard to keep up with him.

Between gasps, Tiv began thinking of all the horrible names to call Boba when she caught up with him. This list worked out much better than the reasons she hated Gerish, although that was _not_ because he wasn't horrible.

By now, Tiv and Boba, who still didn't notice her, were drawing near to a large building that Tiv recognized as the hanger where important people kept their speeders. Boba was slowing down, as if this was where he was going, and Tiv dropped back too, slightly nervous. She didn't like these sorts of places, they freaked her out, and people always glared at her as if she shouldn't be there.

But Boba Fett didn't appear to have any of these worries, because he simply marched forwards and pushed the back door opened. There were two doors, one for the speeders to use and one for people to use. It's a little obvious which one the pair of people used.

Anyway, Boba started to push the door opened, but was stopped by a shout from nearby. Two boys, obviously brothers, had seen him and were hurrying up. Noticing their braids and clothes, Tiv faded back. Perhaps these _Jedi_ would be mad at Boba for being there, but Tiv wouldn't give them a chance to be mad at her.

The two boys didn't seem mad, though. "You're late," Boba commented. Tiv held her breath, sure he'd get it now.

"So are you, if you just got here," pointed out the taller of the boys.

"How do you know I just got here?" asked Boba.

"Because you're still _outside_," the shorter boy responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.

Boba only grinned, though. "Yeah, well, you're _later_!"

"First is the worst, second is the best," snapped the taller one, as the short one rolled his eyes.

"I have to agree with Luke on that one," said Boba, rolling his eyes like the smaller boy had. The tall boy glared at the two of them, but only said, "Come on, let's go before our masters notice that we're missing."

The three boys pushed open the door, and went inside. Tiv, curious as to what the two apprentices could want to do with a boy like Boba, followed them.

Instantly, the smaller boy, Luke, began prowling around the perimeter of the room, squinting into the darkness. The taller boy moved forwards to check the center, while Boba looked at the other side. All three continued that way for a few moments, before returning to the door.

"Nobody," said the tall boy, and Boba nodded.

But Luke whispered, "One man. Probably guarding some politician's speeder. He's asleep." The others nodded their understanding, and glanced around.

"Which one?" the tall boy asked Boba.

"There," he said, pointing at a speeder. The brothers nodded, and, picking up a toolbox that Tiv hadn't noticed earlier, they went over to it. Boba stayed where he was for a moment, looking around as if he sensed Tiv watching him, and she ducked outside again. But after a few seconds, he shrugged and went to help his friends.

As Tiv slipped back inside to see what they were doing, she began to doubt this venture. The boys were being so secretive, that she wouldn't have been surprised if they had been doing something illegal. And if they caught her watching them, they might kill her, then nobody would look after Colac.

And it was getting late, he might be wondering where she was. She had work tomorrow, and she was tired. But she was also curious. Curiosity killed the cat. But she couldn't believe that these boys would really hurt her. But they were Jedi…

As Tiv paused just inside the door, unsure as to what to do, the three boys continued their whispering. They were doing something to the speeder, but she couldn't tell what. Leaning forwards, Tiv squinted into the darkness until something struck the back of her head, and the darkness was complete.

Thank you to my great reviewers: Alley Parker and Fell Dragon. And to Fell, Uhh, I knew that! I didn't really _mean_ to take it down, I'm not sure what happened, but I didn't get around to putting it back up until… whenever I posted this.

So thank you all, and have a great whatever!


	4. The Tale of the Evil Door

_**READ THE AUTHORS NOTE! IT'S IMPORTANT! READ IT NOW, OR DIE! OR AT LEAST, BE CONFUSED! READ IT!**_

A/N: I've made one tiny little change. In the first chapter, I say Tiv and Colac are ten and fifteen, but I've changed that to eight and thirteen, which means I had to say that Boba was a few years older than her. Speaking of which, does anybody know how old he really is? I have no idea, and I can't find it _anywhere_! I know there are books on the subject, but I'm too lazy to read them. And I can't find them. So if you know how old Boba is, please, please, _please_ tell me! Please.

Tiv woke up with a headache to justify the groan she gave.

"Owwwww, what happened?" she moaned.

A pleasant, female voice answered her. "You got hit on the head with a door. The door was opened by a _complete idiot_ who happens to be standing right next to me." The voice didn't sound so pleasant anymore.

"What? It wasn't my fault, blame the boys!" retorted a man's voice. Tiv still refused to open her eyes.

"Hey!" exclaimed two voices at once. Tiv thought they sounded familiar.

"How was it _their _fault, Anakin?" asked another man wearily.

"They were the reason I opened the door!"

"You don't even know how stupid that sounded, do you?" demanded a second woman.

"He rarely does, Senator," the second man answered.

"That's our Ani-kin!" said a cheerful voice happily.

"Jar Jar, shut up," ordered a third man.

"No need to be rude," the second woman, the Senator, told him.

"Could we _please_ stop this dizzying conversation?" demanded the first voice. "Our friend here isn't used to it, and I certainly don't want her to faint again."

"Too late," commented another voice, and this one Tiv identified as Boba. She forced herself to open her eyes, and saw a very strange sight.

She was lying in a bed, apparently in some sort of medical place. On her right was a being she recognized as a Kamino cloner, and three human men. On her left was Boba and the two boys, a Gungan, and a human woman. All were watching her intensely.

"Wrong," the taller of the two boys told Boba. "She's awake."

"No, you think?" demanded Boba sarcastically. "I thought she just slept with her eyes opened."

"That's enough, boys," the woman told them sharply. "It _is_ partially your fault that she's in this situation anyway."

"Sorry," chorused the trio.

"I should_ think_ your masters would have something to say about that," the woman continued, looking pointedly at the two younger men, who squirmed a little.

"Umm, right," said the bearded one. "We will. When we get home…"

"Actually, that sounds like a good idea," interrupted the cloner, apparently noticing that the woman appeared to be about to yell at them again. "We should _all_ go home."

The two men nodded quickly and gathered up the brothers, the younger one taking Luke, and the bearded one taking the taller boy. The cloner herself took Boba with her, and they all exited the room, with the woman shouting after them, "And I would think that _your_ master would have something to say to _you_, Anakin Skywalker!"

"I'm not a Padawan, Padmé," the younger man called over his shoulder.

"Than stop acting like one!" the Senator, Padmé, retorted.

"Why don't you go home?" offered the remaining man. "You have a meeting tomorrow, and you look tired. I can watch our friend here."

The woman sighed, and Tiv realized that she really _did_ look tired, although she appeared to be trying to hide it. She couldn't blame the Senator, doing the same thing herself all too often.

"Alright, Qui-Gon," Padmé said. "Thank you."

The man flapped his hand at her. "Not a problem," he told her.

She smiled tiredly, and turned to the Gungan. "Come on, Jar Jar." The creature nodded happily and followed her out of the room.

Tiv watched the man warily. He had long brown and gray hair, and a beard, with a kind face and surprisingly alert eyes. Wearing brown robes and a lightsaber suddenly reminded the girl that he was a Jedi, and not to be trusted.

A sudden thought hit her as she realized that. "How long have I been unconscious?" demanded Tiv.

The man blinked. "Almost a day, why?" Then he appeared to kick himself. "Right. Sorry."

"I have to get home," she began, trying to sit up.

The man pushed her back down. "Whoa, now, wait a minute. You got hit harder than you think, there. You shouldn't be going anywhere for a while yet."

"You don't understand," she tried to explain. "My brother, he'll be worried… He's only ten, he can't take care of himself."

"Don't worry," he said soothingly. "I'm sure your parents will…"

"Their dead, and he's got nobody to look after him but me!" she exclaimed. "Now let me…"

Tiv began to get up again, but he stopped her. "And what do you think you're going to do?" he demanded. "Walk all the way there? Doubtful. Wait a moment, and I'll drive you." Seeing the look on her face, he added, "Your brother can wait, and you won't do him any good if you pass out again."

So she accepted his help, reminding herself that if she didn't _ask_ for it, than she couldn't be considered indebted to him. A simple 'thank you' would suffice, and if these great Jedi wanted more from her, well too bad!

Giving him directions to her house, and leaning back in the seat, Tiv tried her best not to fall asleep, but she couldn't help it. When he pulled up in front of the bar, the man frowned at the idea of two children living in a place like this, and turned around to ask her something. But, seeing that she wasn't awake, he only smiled and got out of the speeder.

Qui-Gon's POV

Qui-Gon Jinn stepped into the bar, scowling. If things ever worked out the way they should, two people as young as Tiv and her brother would never live in a place like this.

He frowned a bit more, realizing that the girl hadn't told Boba her last name, and had only stayed awake long enough to give him directions. He had no idea how to find her brother.

Someone laughed loudly, and two people started fighting. A man stumbled away from the fight, falling right in front of Qui-Gon, and then jumped back up again to watch it. The Jedi's scowl deepened. Definitely not a good place for two children.

He stopped a barmaid who didn't look much older than Tiv and certainly shouldn't be working in a place like this. "Excuse me, but can you tell me which room belongs to a girl named Tiv and her younger brother?"

The girl glared at him. "Why'd ya wanna know?" she demanded. "Tiv ain't there, and her brother's nothin' to Jedi-folk."

He blinked in surprise. "Actually, Tiv asked me to get her younger brother for her."

"And how'd ya know her?"

Qui-Gon sighed internally, not sure how much information Tiv would want this girl to have. "She had… an accident, which is why she's been missing. She wants her brother nearby."

The girl grinned. "I can see Tiv 'avin' an accident like ya say, her bein' the clumsy type, but I can't see why a Jedi such as yerself would care."

He glared at her, not liking this girl much. "My friend and former apprentice inadvertently caused the accident. Tiv is staying in the Temple until she heals fully."

The girl chuckled. "Ya told 'er that yet?"

Qui-Gon blinked unsure as to what she meant. "What?"

"Nothin'," the girl cackled. "Nothin' at all!" She straightened up, all business now. "Tiv and her brother live behind the second door to the right over that way," she pointed. "Not sure if he'll believe what ya say, but 's worth a shot!" She left, called away by a shout for more beer.

Qui-Gon shook himself, still slightly confused by this encounter. But he went to the door she had pointed at and knocked.

He hadn't even finished knocking when the door burst open. If he hadn't jerked his hand away, he might have accidentally knocked on the little boy who stood there, looking expectant and excited.

The cheerful look on the boy's face deepened into a scowl as he saw that it wasn't his sister. "What?" he demanded. Prepared by the girl's reaction to him, Qui-Gon wasn't too surprised.

"Hello," he said. "Are you Tiv's little brother?"

The boy nodded cautiously, still glaring at him.

"Your sister…"

But before he could finish, Tiv's brother kicked him in the shins and yelped "Where is she!"

"Right outside, actually," responded Qui-Gon, trying not to seem fazed. "She got hurt yesterday, so she's resting, but she wants you to come." He blocked the boy as he started to race out. "You may be there for quite a while," he continued, "So pack what you'll want before you go."

The boy scowled and then slammed the door in Qui-Gon's face. The Jedi stood there for a few minutes, unsure as to whether that meant 'go away' or 'just a minute', until the door opened again, and the boy came out with two backpacks.

"I packed one for Tiv," he said, still watching Qui-Gon cautiously. "If she's staying with _you_, she'll need it." Qui-Gon decided not to ask what he meant, instead simply taking the larger of the two packs and putting it on his back. It was very heavy.

"What did you pack in here, rocks?" he demanded.

"Yes. It's Tiv's special rock. Don't look at it. She doesn't let anyone see it but me." Qui-Gon nodded seriously, and led the boy outside.

"Nami, he's taking me to Tiv!" exclaimed the boy as they passed the barmaid Qui-Gon had talked to earlier.

The girl smiled slightly. "That's great, Colac," she told him. "Just make sure that Tiv's really there, and come back soon!"

"We will," called Colac, waving over his shoulder. Then he turned to Qui-Gon again. "Where _is_ she?"

"She's outside, in my speeder," he told the boy. "She would have come and gotten you herself, only she was very tired and fell asleep."

Colac giggled. "That's my sister!" he exclaimed, as they pushed the door open and went outside.


	5. Me Still Thinking of Title or Ch 5

Tiv sat up again, kicking herself for falling asleep. She wondered what Qui-Gon (he had introduced himself on the way over) would do when he saw that she wasn't awake. He didn't seem to be present, but, sitting up, she realized that she was outside the bar behind which she and Colac lived.

A movement out of the corner of her eyes caught her attention, and Tiv ducked down as she spotted Gerish coming towards her. He hadn't noticed her before, and if she stayed down, maybe he wouldn't…

"Tiv?" asked a sudden voice, and the girl recognized it as Colac.

"She was here a moment ago…" began Qui-Gon, and Tiv saw Gerish stop and watch the two with interest.

If ever she could have used the phrase 'internal battle', now would be the time. Should she get up so that Colac knew she was there, or stay down so that Gerish didn't? But then, Colac and Qui-Gon would inevitably come over to the speeder which would mean they'd see her, and Gerish would too. Postponing it wouldn't help anything, only make her look stupid.

"Here I am!" she cried, sitting up. Qui-Gon looked surprised at her sudden appearance, but Colac, accustomed to it, only smiled.

"I thought he said you were asleep," commented the boy, jerking his head at Qui-Gon.

"Yes, well, rarely do I fall asleep without waking up. In fact, it has never happened to me at all."

"I'm sure it will one day," said Qui-Gon comfortingly.

"Gee, thanks," retorted Tiv sarcastically, spotting Gerish grinning out of the corner of her eye, but refusing to look at him.

Qui-Gon dumped the backpack he was carrying into the speeder, and opened the door so that Colac could get in. As Tiv scooted to one side for her brother, she spotted Gerish still grinning manically. _Probably glad to be rid of us,_ she thought angrily. _I'm glad to be rid of him, too._ She refused to admit that if they were rid of each other, she would be gone permanently.

"What _happened_?" asked Colac, diverting her attention away from Gerish.

"Well… apparently… I got knocked out. By a door."

"You got knocked out by a _door_? What, was it evil or something?" demanded Colac.

"No," Qui-Gon told him from the front. "It was just being handled by someone…. unusual."

"Unusual how?"

"You'll see," answered Qui-Gon mysteriously. Colac and Tiv rolled their eyes, and went back to their conversation.

"So what were you doing in front of a door being handled by this unusual person?" asked Colac.

"Uhh… following people I shouldn't into places I shouldn't," answered Tiv.

"As usual."

Their conversation continued on this vein for quite a while, until about halfway to their destination, Tiv asked, "So, who were those people there when I woke up?"

"Just the two of us, why?" asked Colac.

"No, not _that_ time, the other time! Just after I got knocked out by the door."

"Well how should _I_ know?"

"I wasn't _asking_ you, I was _asking_ him!"

"Umm, unusual people," answered Qui-Gon, looking unsure how to describe his friends.

"What is _with_ you and the word unusual?" demanded Colac.

"My friends _are_ unusual. Have you ever met them?"

"No, why would I have?"

"Then you don't know how unusual they are. One day, you will. Actually, probably today or tomorrow." He glanced up at the sky. "More likely tomorrow, it's getting late."

"Why would we meet your friends at all?" demanded Tiv sleepily. You can't really blame her, considering.

Qui-Gon glanced back at her, and decided that she was too tired for long explanations like the one her question would merit. "Never mind. Are you feeling alright?"

"No. My head hurts. And I'm tired. What did you mean about your friends?"

"Well, that's not surprising that your head hurts, considering how hard Anakin hit you."

"I thought you said _a door_ hit her," Colac snapped. "What, was the door named Anakin or something?"

Qui-Gon grinned, glad the boy, if unwittingly, was helping him avoid Tiv's questions. "No, the door was being _handled_ by someone named Anakin, my former apprentice."

"Oh." Colac seemed to consider that for a moment. Actually, he was considering whether to help this guy avoid Tiv's questionings, but Qui-Gon didn't know that. Finally, he decided. "Is _he_ unusual?"

"Aren't we all. Yes, he is very, very unusual." Seeing that Tiv was about to change the subject again, Qui-Gon launched into a whole story about Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the rest of his 'unusual' friends.

It was dark by the time the trio reached the Jedi Temple. Qui-Gon turned around to help Tiv and Colac out, and smiled when he realized that both children were asleep.

Colac's eyes flickered partway opened, but Qui-Gon didn't notice. The boy felt much too tired to stand, and to his surprise, as he saw the Jedi lifting up his sister, he started to rise too. Rolling over without opening his eyes any farther, he saw a bearded man with slightly lighter and shorter hair than Jinn holding his sleepy form.

"Is this her brother?" the man asked, and Jinn nodded.

"They were living in a tiny room behind a _bar_," he told the other man. Both shook their heads. "They shouldn't even be allowed _in_ there, much less _live_ there," Jinn continued.

Colac tried to protest that he was, indeed, perfectly capable of living _anywhere_ he wanted, and that he had Tiv to look after him, didn't he? But he found himself to be too tired.

_I'll tell them in the morning_, he told himself sleepily. Without even bothering to wonder where he and Tiv would sleep, his eyes closed completely, and he fell asleep.

So, another short one. I'd tell you the reviewers, but there weren't any, and there should have been… umm… please? Pretty please? Okay, I'll shut up now, but please press that little button on the bottom left corner of the screen. See it? See that purplish-blue thingy? Good, now press it… type in your name, and tell me what you think. Please.


	6. Introductions

A/N Wow. Much longer than usual. Anyway, thanks to Fell Dragon, who reviewed, and who also inspired the bulk of this chapter. Finally, your questions will be answered.

Hey, have you noticed that I can count the number of reviewers I have on one hand? Come on, people! Go ahead and review. I need feedback. The more you review, the faster (and more) I update. Pleeeeeeeeeeease? I've already told you the location of the button in the last chapter.

**_QUESTION OF THE… LONG, LONG TIME! READ THIS, AND ANSWER IF YOU KNOW! _** How old is Boba Fett in Episode II? I have no idea, and since he _is_ turning out to be a more major character than I thought he would, it might become important. How old is he? Ten? Twelve? Sixteen? Five? _I do not know!_ If you do, review. If you don't review and tell me your guess.

Basically review no matter what. If you have any plot ideas, feedback, random facts about Star Wars that you don't think I know, random facts about _anything _that you don't think I know… Yes, I'm getting desperate, but pretty soon my chapters are going to outnumber my reviews.

Tiv sat up, blinking groggily. Looking around, she could see that she was in a large, rich-looking bedroom. The lights were off, and the room was empty, but she could here people outside.

Getting up, she saw that she was in a long, white nightgown. _Weird_, she thought, slightly annoyed that someone had apparently decided that her normal clothes were unfit for sleeping in. She only hoped that it had been one of the women who had been with her when she'd woken up.

Padding quietly to the door, Tiv opened it and peered around. A large room met her eyes, with four boys gathered by one wall, evidently a window. She smiled as she saw Colac. Glad that her brother was alright, and, apparently, getting on well with Boba and the brothers, she slipped into the other room.

As she did so, a loud whirring noise, followed by a series of loud yells, sounded from outside the window. Tiv jumped, her yelp hidden by the sound, but the boys, obviously, found it hilarious.

"Crash and burn!" cried the brothers, slapping each other high fives.

Boba put a comradely arm around Colac's shoulder. "And that, my friend," he told the younger boy solemnly, "Is the fruit of what we, as pranksters, do."

"Fruit?" asked Colac. "I don't get it."

"No… it's an expression," explained Boba. "Like… fruit of our labors… uhh…"

"It's what comes from all our hard work," explained one of the brothers.

"Very, very, hard work," agreed the other.

"Harder than training…"

"Harder than lifting a bantha…"

"It's… _pranking!_" cried both of the boys in unison.

"What, are you like, twins or something?" asked Tiv, forgetting that she wasn't a part of this conversation. All four started and turned around.

"Not _twins_, milady," said one brother grandly, bowing.

"Just twin _brothers_," explained the other, giving his own bow.

Tiv frowned. "That makes no sense whatsoever," she complained.

"Whatsoever!" exclaimed one boy, and both instantly began dancing around in circles, crying, "Whatsoever, whatsoever!" over and over again.

"Wha….?" began Tiv.

Boba grinned. "I can tell you're completely lost," he said. Before she had time to deny it, he continued. "Let me explain." He paused. "No, never mind. Let me pretend to explain, while instead leaving you in just as much confusion as before."

Quickly reaching out, he grabbed one of the boys by the shirt collar. The boy jerked in surprise, then, with the air of one studying to become a court jester, he continued his dancing and singing. His brother did the same, twirling in circles with his arm hooked around an invisible partner's.

"This," explained Boba, "Is Ani, Padawan to Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi." He released the boy, and grabbed the other. "And this is Luke, Padawan to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker."

He dropped the boy, and both continued their dance, feigning oblivion to the rest of the conversation. At least, Tiv _hoped_ they were feigning it.

"They aren't brothers," continued Boba, unperturbed. "Or even twins. They just happen to look quite a bit alike."

As if on cue, both boys stopped their dancing. Actually, Ani stopped first, and Luke just a beat after him, but it was still very coordinated.

"And have the same last name!" added Ani.

"And have shown up here at the same time!" put in Luke.

"We think we're clones," the chorused.

Tiv rolled her eyes, trying not to look as confused as she truly was.

"And, _how_ many times have you boys practiced this?"

The 'brothers' looked at each other.

"Thirty?" asked Luke.

"Maybe thirty-five," corrected Ani.

"Sounds about right," agreed Boba.

Colac tugged on his sister's sleeve. "Tiv, Tiv, come look what they did," he cried excitedly. "It's what they were doing when that guy whacked you with the door!"

"Oh, now _this_ I've got to see," commented Tiv as she allowed her brother to guide her over to the window.

"Indeed you do," Boba told her. "It's so good. Makes Mace Windu look like a total idiot."

"Which he _completely_ deserves," Ani pointed out.

"He's _nuts_!" agreed Luke.

"Who?" asked Tiv. All three boys stared at her.

"You know…" said Ani tentatively. "Mace Windu? Council member? Really, really important Jedi?"

Tiv shook her head. "I tend not to keep up on Jedi affairs," she told them, not wanting to admit why. As much as she may like these boys, the truth was, they were Jedi, and telling a Jedi that you hate the entire Order is not a good thing to do.

Well, maybe not the _entire_ Order. That man Qui-Gon had seemed nice enough, for a Jedi. And the others who were with him had seemed kind, event the man who had hit her with the door. He hadn't _meant_ to.

Wait. Why was she defending him? To… herself? Tiv shook herself mentally. These were _Jedi_! And, even if she couldn't figure it out, her mother must have had a _reason_ not to have given her to them as a child.

Of course she had a reason! They were evil! Worse than the Sith… well, almost. Tiv just didn't have proof of it just yet. It was like Gerish, she told herself. They were bad, she just couldn't prove it. That didn't mean that they weren't bad, just that she wasn't very good at figuring out what exactly _made_ them bad.

Shaking all of these thoughts out of her head, Tiv followed Colac over to the window. Outside everyone was still yelling, but it took her a moment to find out why. When she saw the reason, it was all she could do not to laugh.

The usual Coruscant traffic was occurring, but with one slight change. Right outside the window, a yellow speeder was spinning around in fast circles, containing a man who looked like he was about to throw up.

"Well?" asked Boba. "What do you think?"

"Is that Mace Windu?" Tiv asked, pointing at the man.

All three nodded.

"What did he do to deserve _that_?" she demanded, although she grinned while saying it.

The boys looked at each other. "Sparked our wrath," Luke said finally, while his friends nodded.

Tiv grinned even wider. "Remind me to stay on your good sides."

"Why?" asked a sudden voice. All five children jumped and turned around. Qui-Gon and the other adults were standing in the doorway, looking at the curiously.

Ani and Boba sprang to cover the window with their bodies. "No reason," said Luke. "Just happy little children frolicking like banthas. Err… I mean…"

"Yup, they're frolicking all right," muttered the cloner. "Just like banthas, these children are.

"What did you do?" asked the bearded man sternly.

"Nothing, Master," Ani said. Tiv decided this must be the Obi-Wan Kenobi that Boba had referred to.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing you didn't already know about, if not exactly what to do or how to prevent it."

Scowling at him, the bearded man moved over to the window, the other adults following. Tiv wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the youngest man crack a smile before quickly turning to hide it.

"We should put warning signs on these boys," commented the woman. "What do you think, Jar Jar?"

"Warning, nutty-o boyos!" agreed the Gungan.

"If seen near any of your belongings, do not touch said belonging until it has been examined by a professional," put in the cloner.

Everyone laughed, even, Tiv noted, the boys.

"Please do, Master," begged Ani. "It will be a token of our status as the top pranksters of the Temple."

"I'll consider it," answered the bearded man.

"Although first," Qui-Gon put in, "We should introduce ourselves to Tiv here. I can tell you've already met Ani and Luke?" he asked her. She nodded.

"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi," Ani's master told her. "And this is Anakin Skywalker. He's Luke's unfortunate master, I'm Ani's."

"Hi," said Anakin.

"And I'm Taun We," the cloner said.

"Mesa Jar Jar Binks!" the Gungan exclaimed. "Mesa berry, berry happy to be meetin' ya, Tivy!"

"And I'm Senator Padmé Amidala," the woman introduced. "But you can call me Padmé. I hope you don't mind me changing you into that nightgown. You didn't look to comfortable, sleeping in your day-clothes."

"I don't mind at all," Tiv told her politely. "Just… where am I?"

"Padmé's apartments, near the Jedi Temple," Obi-Wan told her. "We- oh, Force!"

"What?" asked Tiv in alarm, looking around.

"We're late," explained Qui-Gon, following Obi-Wan's gaze to the clock on the wall. "We have a Council meeting soon, and if we don't hurry…"

"Don't worry, Master Qui-Gon," cheered Ani. "It looks like Master Windu will be late, too!"

"Right," muttered Qui-Gon. "I'm not sure whether to thank you or not, but… Oh, never mind. Let's go." He and the other two Jedi hurried out of the room, but then he stopped and turned back. "Tiv, Colac, come on!"

"What… we're coming?" asked Tiv.

"Well, the meeting would be a little redundant without you," Anakin said.

This time, when they left, Tiv noticed with amusement, that, while it was obvious that only a few of them had been summoned, (later she would learn that it was only her and Qui-Gon) everyone in the room, even Jar Jar, followed the Jedi out.

Tiv grinned. If this sort of thing happened often, then it would definitely be interesting to live with these people. Not, of course, that she was going to, under any circumstances. Definitely not!


	7. A Semi Sane Council Meeting

"Cup, no! Speeder. Ice cream? Speeder with a triangular person in it? Ummm, upside-down light bulb? No, wait, I see it! It's a… Uhh… Oh! A person holding a lightsaber! Right?"

"Correct, you are," Yoda told her, while the other Jedi tried to wake themselves up. Obi-Wan grinned. Tiv was an unusual girl, he'd giver her that. Most potential Padawans either got it right the first time, or only offered one answer. Tiv offered _at least_ five every time.

"Now which one?" asked a tired and harassed looking Mace Windu, pressing the dial.

"Umm… door? No, giant frog! Bantha? No, it doesn't have legs, uhh, a _really_ messed up speeder? Oh, a blob! Nah, they wouldn't put _that_ there! Uhh, oh, wait _this_ one's a cup, am I right?"

"Correct." He switched it again.

"Oooh, Oooh, that's a, Uhh, building? No, one of those weird things on Hoth. Umm, a rock? A candle!"

"Correct."

"Uhh, that's a… cat? Or maybe…"

"Correct."

"Blob? Notebook? Boat?"

Rolling his eyes, Obi-Wan reached out with the Force and contacted Qui-Gon.

_They're never going to let her become a Padawan after _this_ display,_ he commented.

_Perhaps they will,_ Qui-Gon answered. _She _did_ just get the cat right, and she's getting better. Besides, from what we can tell from Colac, she has received her Force sensitivity only recently._

Obi-Wan sighed internally. _Yes, but we can only tell that from _Colac._ Tiv won't tell us anything. That's no_ _way to get on the Council's good side. _

_Still, she's a quick learner, _Anakin put in suddenly. _And, who knows? The Council might give her some slack since she's new to the Force. For a beginner, she's pretty good._

_Yes, you'd know, wouldn't you, oh Chosen One? _Retorted Obi-Wan sourly. Anakin only grinned.

_Besides, they'll want to figure out _why_ she's suddenly Force-sensitive when she never was before,_ continued Qui-Gon, ignoring the other two bickering.

_But she's _thirteen, protested Obi-Wan. _She's far too old! _Even Anakin nodded reluctantly at that.

_I'm not sure, _Qui-Gon thought slowly. _The Council's been acting strange lately._

_Lately?_

_I _mean_, they've been accepting Padawans at a much more advanced age than before! Look at Keiros, he was _fifteen_…_

_Who had spent his _life_ studying the Jedi, _and_ had been Force- sensitive since birth,_ Obi-Wan pointed out.

_Well, what about Ani and Luke? They were both eight, and the Council accepted them!_

_They were special circumstances, _Anakin protested. _It doesn't compare…_

_Tiv's a special circumstance too,_ Qui-Gon reminded them. _And besides, I think that at the moment, 'special circumstances' is a more general term than we think._

_Meaning?_

_Meaning I think it's _already_ a special circumstance. I think that there's something more going on than they're telling us._

On that dramatic note, their conversation was ended by another one beginning. Or, rather, not quite beginning, but suddenly grabbing their attention.

"Jinn!" Windu shouted, jerking the trio out of their trances. Anakin and Obi-Wan looked a little sheepish, although it wasn't _them_ in trouble, but Qui-Gon merely blinked calmly and asked "Yes?"

"Were you even _listening _to me?" Windu demanded.

"I am now."

The other Jedi sighed, and gave up on getting any sense out of these people. He was already exhausted by talking with Tiv, and Qui-Gon wasn't helping.

"We were _about_ to tell you our decision, but if you'd rather we didn't…"

"No! No, tell us."

"Well," now it was Windu's turn to look sheepish. "We were about to make it…"

"Take a vote, we will," Yoda announced. "In favor of a Padawan, Tivania becoming, are you?"

After the short pause it took for everyone to sort out what he'd said, the vote was taken. Eight of the twelve Council members raised their hands. Four didn't.

"Decided, it is," Yoda said. "Your Padawan, Tivania will be."

Obi-Wan had barely had time to think that Qui-Gon was right, before he noticed the look of shock on his old master's face. But before he could wonder about it, the old Jedi spoke.

"Thank you, Master," Qui-Gon said, hiding his surprise at the Council's selection of _him_ to train Tiv. "Where, may I ask, will her brother go?"

"Is he also Force sensitive?" asked Windu, who had voted against Tiv.

"No, Master."

"Then he may return to their home."

"_Wait a minute_!" Tiv burst out suddenly. "You can't mean you want to send him _back!_"

"What he said, that was," pointed out Yoda.

"But our parents are gone! He'll never make it on his own!"

"Only Jedi can live at the Jedi Temple," Windu retorted stubbornly. "He will find a way. If you wish to go to your home to make arrangements for him, you should talk to your master…"

"No, I won't! I won't stay here without Colac!" Everyone had seemed slightly taken aback by Tiv's sudden outburst, but now they all looked shocked.

"Tiv, think this over," Qui-Gon pleaded, but the girl shook her head stubbornly.

"I can't even _think_ about being a Jedi until I'm _sure_ that my brother is taken care of!"

"He will be," Windu pointed out.

"No, he won't! He needs family, he's already lost his parent's, and I'm not going to let him lose his sister. If you really care so little about him, than you should also care that little about _me_!"

"_Please_ be reasonable," Agen Kolar moaned.

"_You_ be reasonable," Tiv retorted rudely. "I'm not going _anywhere_ without Colac!"

"Actually, there _is_ a solution to this," Padmé interjected smoothly. "I'll take Colac to live with me. He can stay with Jar Jar during the day while I'm in the Senate, and Tiv can see him in the evenings when she's completed her training."

As Tiv looked about to protest, Padmé added, "You'll be spending most of your time training anyhow, and this way he'll have a home to go to while you are. You won't see him any less than you would normally, and I'll take care of him very well."

The young girl hesitated for a moment, and then turned to her brother. "What do you think, Colac?" she asked. "Do you want to go live with Padmé?" Softer, so that only he could hear, she added, "If you want to go back to normal, I don't _have_ to become a Jedi. I won't mind, really."

"No, I'm okay," he answered cheerfully. "I _like_ Padmé, she's a nice lady." Padmé smiled a little at this. "I'll see you tonight!" he started to run out of the room, but was grabbed by Obi-Wan.

"Not yet, youngling," the Jedi told him. "We have to finish here."

"Actually, we seem to be done," Windu told them. "You had better begin making arrangements for the children's new living… arrangements." He looked slightly embarrassed at seeming so repetitive, but shook it off and gave them a regal nod, dismissing them. They left.

"We'd better go back to Padmé's apartments first so that you can get your stuff, Tiv," Qui-Gon told her. "You can move into Anakin's old room, he's _finally_ gotten all his stuff out of it…"

"Can I help it if I'm slow at moving?" Anakin asked.

Before Qui-Gon could answer, Luke shouted, "Hey, Master, if you're so slow at moving, bet you can't catch me!" and he darted off, closely followed by Ani.

Anakin groaned and followed them. "I don't understand you," Obi-Wan told Qui-Gon. "You survived _four_ Padawans, and now you want a fifth? You're nuts, Master." And he ran off to chase his own apprentice.

"_Don't worry. We're not in trouble yet."_

"_Not in trouble? Monsters out there, leakin' in there, all sinkin' and no powah? When wesa's gonna _be_ in trouble?"_

Tiv blinked. This was too much. Seeing random Jedi was one thing, but she could have _sworn_ that the man had been Qui-Gon, and the other was definitely Jar Jar. She glanced sidelong at her new master, still chatting about the different things he was planning to do, wondering if she should ask him about this.

Shaking herself mentally, Tiv reminded herself that she couldn't trust Qui-Gon, or any of these others. She may _like_ them, but not trust. Never trust, not a Jedi.

"Wait a minute, Qui-Gon," Padmé warned him. "Tiv can't do this if she doesn't have anything to wear but those clothes she wore here."

"I have another pair," Tiv told her.

"Yes, one! Honestly, Tiv, you can't go through life with two shirts and two pairs of pants."

"And why not?"

Padmé blinked, but then said, "Well, what would you wear when their both dirty?"

"I just make sure that they're not both dirty at the same time."

"Define 'dirty'," Taun We said suddenly.

Tiv glared at her. "When someone complains of the smell."

"Alright, alright," Padmé snapped. "Qui-Gon, forget the training. First thing tomorrow, we're going shopping!"

Tiv groaned internally.

Wow! That's probably the longest chapter I've ever written. I'm on a roll! I just didn't want to divide it into two. Heehee, Thanks to Ellenlome who corrected me long after I wrote this. Turnes out it hadthe last chapter in it...oops.So, anyway, thank you Fell Dragon, for reviewing, and for telling me Boba Fett's age. If you disagree with twelve, or if you want to suggest a plot change or any character at any age who should pop up, review. If you just want to tell me something, review! By the way, I also wanted to comment, if you have any suggestions for pranks the Skywalker boys should play on people, tell me. I'm thinking of having a chapter with a birthday prank… but I won't tell you much. All I'll say is that they need to prank people, and I can't think of pranks. So review, please.

By the way, now that I've found some good sites on Star Wars, I've figured out that Qui-Gon did indeed have a Padawan before Xanatos, so I'm going to have to stop ignoring his/her existence. Also as a product of those sites, these minor characters actually exist.


	8. Trust and Soda Burping with Pickles

"Have you ever soda-burped with a pickle in your mouth?" Boba asked.

Tiv stared at him. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. The two were at Dexter's Diner with Colac, Ani and Luke three days after Tiv's acceptance as a Padawan. And, as you can tell, Boba was being odd. Again.

"Well, you know how when you burp after drinking soda, it feels different than normal?"

"Yes."

"Okay, have you ever done that with a pickle in your mouth?"

"Uhmm, no, I can't say I have."

Boba, Ani, and Luke exchanged an odd glance. "Ohhh!" the Skywalkers chorused. "This is going to be _go-od_!"

"What?" asked Tiv, looking between the two. "What's going on?"

Boba placed a plate and a cup in front of her. "Pickle," he said pointing at the plate. "Eat." He pointed at the cup. "Soda. Drink."

"Thank you for being so descriptive," Tiv said sarcastically. "I'm not sure if I can even get your meaning with all the adjectives you used, but just hearing you speak was an enjoyable experience!"

Boba glared at her. "Fine. _Green_ pickle. Eat. _Not green_ soda. Drink."

Colac giggled. "Green's not an adjective!"

"Yes it is, Kid," Boba told him absently.

"Well it's not a good one!"

"Colac's right," Tiv pointed out. "If you're trying to describe a pickle, 'green' is actually rather dry and unimaginable. You might want to refer to the taste, or the texture. Or perhaps…"

The Skywalker not-brothers looked at each other for a moment, and then Luke grabbed the pickle and shoved it in her mouth.

"Mmph!" Tiv exclaimed, and pulled it out. "Soda first," she told them, and drank it, then replaced the pickle.

"Three, two, one," the boys chanted. Nothing happened. They waited a long moment, and then finally, Tiv burped.

"Wah!" she exclaimed. "That felt weird."

As the five of them laughed, Tiv thought that these new friends were definitely the high point of her life as a Jedi, the low point being that she _still_ didn't trust any of them. Maybe she should, she mused. After all, the Jedi and their friends had never been anything but kind to her, and Qui-Gon was more of a father to her than her father was. Considering that she had never known her father, that wasn't saying much, but still, he was kind.

She cared about these people, sure, and she liked them very much, but that didn't mean that she had to trust them, did it? After all, even if they had never done anything to make her not trust them, they had never exactly done anything _to_ make her trust them. Had they?

But the more she thought about it, the more Tiv realized that they had, indeed, been deserving of her trust from the very first. Nothing had obliged them to help her on that first day, but they had. When they had seen that she was Force-sensitive, they hadn't _had_ to bring her before the Council, knowing that they probably wouldn't accept her.

She had heard Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon discussing it, and understood that it had been probable that the Council would be against her. And she also understood that Qui-Gon had tried to get the Council to take Padawans who were over-aged before, but hadn't succeeded before Anakin. The Council wouldn't appreciate him trying again.

Tiv was less inclined to wonder why the Council had accepted her than to wonder why _Qui-Gon_ had. Councils and governments, she knew, were contradictory as a rule. They might have a reason to want as many Jedi as possible, or they might have any other reason. Either way, she would have thought the Council more likely to take her in than Qui-Gon. He was the one who would have to look after her, put up with her at all times. He was the one who seemed to be getting the bad deal out of this, getting _nothing_ in return for training her. And yet, somehow, he had been the one immediately inclined to accept her. Perhaps, she thought, it meant that _she_ should try to accept _him._

Or perhaps, it meant that she should be even more mistrustful of him. If he had no motive obvious to her, than it was plain that he had a hidden one, and if he was hiding it, it couldn't be good for Tiv. No, she decided, as much as she may like him, she'd have to look out for Qui-Gon Jinn.

This one is allowed to be short, since the last one was ten pages long! And yes, soda-burping with a pickle in your mouth _does_ feel weird. I've done it. Where'd you think I got the idea? So, anyway, reviewers, thank you, non-reviewers, _please_, non-readers, there's no point in even talking to you, is there? If you review my story, I'll review yours! And I might criticize gently, but I won't flame, either. By the way, I've read through all the reviews of my last story (where'd all you guys _go_?) and I realized that several people seemed to be suggesting that I form a romantic relationship between Qui-Gon and Taun We. Any takers, or are they just weird? Please review and tell me!


	9. From a Sith's Point of View

Straightening up, Palpatine moaned softly. Perhaps, he thought, sending himself to this universe wasn't such a good idea. But no, he dismissed that notion as foolish weakness deserving of a Jedi.

After all, this universe was special. From here, with the plans he had devised and his minion self had carried out, he could have a place to physically exist at last.

If only, the former Chancellor mused, he could have made contact with his younger self in one of these other universes. But no matter. Once he had a place, it would undoubtedly be easier for him to communicate with another Palpatine.

And, after all, this universe _was_ where he kept all those responsible for his destruction. It was a pity to give up his previous apprentice, but necessary. Likewise, the boy Luke would have made a good Sith, but he had left himself loyal to the wrong side.

Without completely understanding the laws of time, Palpatine had decided that he couldn't be sure that Luke wouldn't be born if Anakin had never existed. Of course, he hadn't _meant_ for Jinn to survive or Anakin to become _his_ apprentice in this universe. But, evidentially, nothing could go his way.

He had only redirected an asteroid in this one. But, by pure accident, that had caused the destruction of a planet that _would_ have occupied the attention of the Federation of Trade for the year before its time on Naboo. _And _would have been the vacation spot and eventual deathbed for the only man in Mon Espa willing to teach blaster fighting to an eight-year-old.

The redirection of an asteroid should _not_ have resulted in the survival of a Jedi halfway across the galaxy. But it had, and now this universe was good for nothing but his place to stay until he turned another universe to his will, and a 'storage place' for those who would make trouble for him until he had to kill them.

Well, he had Anakin and Luke, oh, perhaps he should add Kenobi. After all, he _was_ rather important to Anakin's life, and Luke's as well. But without either of them… no, he would _not_ make another mistake like Jinn's survival. Kenobi would come to this world to die, just like his apprentices.

And the Princess Leia too? His more cautious side wondered. Yes, he decided, he would take no chances. She was not particularly important to his destruction, but she might have been without her brother.

Yes, he would destroy the two of them along with all the others. He wondered how to do it…

"My lord," a battle droid he had purchased from the Federation entered the room and bowed stiffly. Palpatine had a fleeting wish that he could use the clones, but since the Republic was attempting to reprogram them, the Jedi couldn't either.

"Report," he ordered it, knowing that the droids would only respond to a command like that.

"We have news from our spies at the Jedi Temple," the droid told him. "Master Jinn has taken another apprentice, approximately three days and ten hours ago."

Palpatine leaned forwards. "Who?" he demanded. "Who is it?"

"A human girl, born on Coruscant, approximately thirteen years of age."

"Why would the Council accept one so old?" interrupted Palpatine.

"I don't know," retorted the droid, looking, if it was possible, miffed at being interrupted. "Do you want me to continue?"

Palpatine nodded, barely suppressing the urge to kill the droid outright for impertinence. This was too important.

"Her brother came with her, and is now staying with Senator Amidala. They are very close, and he could be suggested as a possible weakness. The boy was also born on Coruscant, and is eight years old."

"Do you have their names?" snapped the Sith impatiently.

The droid bobbed his head. "Tivania and Colac Merlos."

Palpatine slowly sank back into his seat. "Merlos," he muttered. "Now, _there's_ a name I've heard before." He waved to the droid to leave.

With a muttered "You're welcome," it did so.

"Merlos," Palpatine repeated. Then he grinned. "If the old woman has passed any of her knowledge onto her children, then I believe we can make this work to our advantage. After all, what Sith child would want to be trained by the Jedi?"

Hello again, Mikey15! Thanks for reviewing! My brother's name isn't Mikey, but his friend calls him that! And today's his birthday! Everyone say happy birthday to my brother. One, two, three, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!

Okay, so this one's short too, but I'm going to plead lenience because of the length of the chapter before last. Besides, I have a four day weekend because of Thanksgiving and Grading Day, so I'll get more up soon. Please review.


	10. Mental Shields

"_After all, what Sith's child would want to train with the Jedi?"_

Qui-Gon was just grumbling at the futility of home cooking when he heard the door creak open. Well, it didn't exactly creak, but it did open.

He turned around and saw Obi-Wan standing in the doorway, trying to hide a smile.

"Look's like you and Tiv will be eating out again," the younger Jedi commented.

"I suppose you think this is funny," Qui-Gon grumbled.

"Absolutely," Obi-Wan answered, picking up a broom and helping him clean up a shattered plate's remains.

Qui-Gon looked at him for a moment, and then smiled, but hid it. "Making fun of your old master?" he teased. "There ought to be a rule against that!"

"Oh, there is," Obi-Wan told him. "I just break rules a lot."

"Take after me, there," his master laughed.

"Looks like you've had enough luck with apprentices for that to happen quite often," Obi-Wan commented. Seeing Qui-Gon's grin at that, he added, "You seem to be enjoying it."

"Actually, I hate cooking. Or were you referring to cleaning up after myself? I hate that, too."

Obi-Wan couldn't help but roll his eyes there. "I was _referring_ to having another apprentice, but if you'd _like_ to focus on the bad things…"

Qui-Gon laughed again and raised his hands in mock surrender, "Alright, alright, you win. Yes, I _am_ enjoying having an apprentice again, but… Never mind."

"What?" prodded Obi-Wan. "What is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Qui-Gon frowned. "Tiv's smart, and a quick learner. She's good with her lightsaber, and very controlled. She'd make a perfect Jedi, except…" Once again, he trailed off.

"Master," Obi-Wan told him. "If you're not going to be able to finish your sentences without me reminding you to continue, perhaps you should just write it down. It's a more simple method of communicating for those of you who can't seem to…"

"Alright, alright!"

"Or let the rest of _us_ finish _our_ sentences," retorted Obi-Wan.

"Okay, I'm sorry," snapped Qui-Gon. "Now do you _want_ to hear the end of this, or should I just let the master of finishing his sentences talk?"

Obi-Wan sighed, "No, I want to hear it. Now, if you please…"

"_Now _who's not finishing his sentences?"

"It was for dramatic effect!"

"How do you know _my_ times not finishing my sentences weren't?" demanded Qui-Gon.

"Master…"

"There you go again!"

"Master, just talk, alright!"

Qui-Gon suppressed a comment that would have started another one of their inane and redundant arguments, and continued their conversation. Or, at least, tried to. "Err…"

"She'd make a perfect Jedi except…" prompted Obi-Wan.

"Ah, yes, thank you," said Qui-Gon. "She'd make a perfect Jedi, except that she's so mistrustful and secretive. I mean, she already knows how to meditate, but she won't say _where_ she learned it, only that she 'picked it up somewhere'. Likewise, someone taught her to shield her mind, but she won't say who, or why."

"Perhaps she doesn't know, or remember," Obi-Wan offered. "If she learned it when she was very young…"

But Qui-Gon shook his head. "No, she knows alright. She always hesitates a moment when I ask her, as if she's wondering whether to trust me. But she never does."

Obi-Wan frowned. "You said that she already has mental shields?"

"And uses them all the time. I've seen full grown Knights, even a few Masters who aren't as good at shielding their minds as this untrained thirteen-year-old!"

"Pity that talent couldn't have been slightly more… productive," Obi-Wan commented.

Qui-Gon sighed. "Yes, it is." He hesitated for a moment, and then added, "None of my apprentices were as well-shielded as she is, not even… Xanatos."

Obi-Wan jumped at the mention of the fallen Jedi. "You don't think Tiv could be… like Xanatos?"

"A Sith? No, I don't believe so." Qui-Gon quieted for a moment, as if wondering about the truth of his statement. "No, she isn't," he repeated. "A Sith wouldn't hesitate, or even _consider _trusting us. A Sith would have a lie planned for why she knows how to shield her mind and meditate, or would have hidden it. A Sith would know how to use a lightsaber, even if she _did_ hide it. And… a Sith wouldn't have family that she loves as much as Tiv loves Colac."

"Or it could all be an act," Obi-Wan pointed out.

But Qui-Gon shook his head again. "I don't think so. Tiv's…" he shook his head, and then told his former Padawan, "When she first came here, when she was in the Council meeting, Windu told her that Colac would have to go home without her. Remember?"

"Yes."

"Well, for just a split second there, her shields dropped, and I could sense… fear."

"Fear?"

"I _know_ what you're thinking, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon informed him. "And I don't think it was that she thought her plans or anything else would fail, more that… _she_ would fail as a caretaker to Colac."

"And when Padmé agreed to take him?"

"Her shields went down for the third time and I could sense relief. A lot of it."

Obi-Wan started to nod, and then frowned. "Wait… the _third_ time?"

Qui-Gon sighed. He had been hoping that his apprentice wouldn't notice that. "When Master Kolar told her to be reasonable, she seemed… not _angry_, exactly. Well, she _was_ angry, but it seemed more like… more like someone had told her that before, and she was angry at _them_ not at Kolar."

"Odd," muttered Obi-Wan. "Do you think that this has anything to do with her shields?"

"What?" asked Qui-Gon, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I _mean_, I think that maybe there's a reason that her shields dropped _then_. It was almost as if Tiv was remembering something to do with them. I've sensed her shields too, I think, although at the time I thought it must be coming from someone else, but now that I think of it… And Tiv's advanced enough not to lose her shields every time she gets angry."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Yes, I suppose that…"

At that very moment, the door burst opened and Tiv ran into the room. "Master, I… Oh, hello, Master Kenobi." She turned back to Qui-Gon. "Master… err, are Jedi allowed to keep… pets?"

"Pets?" asked Qui-Gon. "Well… I don't… wait. Why are you asking?"

Tiv reached into her backpack and pulled out a fuzzy black bundle. "Err…" She grinned sheepishly.

"What _is_ this?" asked Obi-Wan, leaning forwards and touching the bundle gingerly. It squirmed and a pair of faces turned to look at him.

"Meow," it said.

Heehee! What do you think? Kitties, or something else that says 'meow'? Vote on it in your reviews! And by the way, I was completely serious about that thing with Qui-Gon and Taun We. What do you think? And suggestions or normal reviews are welcome! And to my most recent reviewer, Mikey15: Happy Thanksgiving to you too! And to the rest of you who celebrate it. Aw, heck, happy today to everyone! That way if its not Thanksgiving when you read it, I'm still wishing you a happy day! So, review, and I'll be happy. And probably update faster and longer, too!


	11. Names and Entertainment

"Well," commented Anakin. "I suppose I can definitely say that now you have a Padawan who causes even more… entertainment than I did."

"Entertainment?" demanded Padmé, raising her eyebrows.

"For the rest of us," Anakin replied, shrugging as he went to get himself a drink. "For Master Qui-Gon, it's more… insanity."

"Sorry," Tiv told them. She bent down and picked up one of the kittens. "But Master Qui-Gon _did_ let me keep them," she added, handing the kitten to Colac and retrieving the other from Anakin's recently vacated seat just before the young Jedi sat down again.

"And we're all very glad of that," Boba told her.

"Yeah!" Ani cried. "It's entertaining!"

"_And_ cute," Luke added. "The kittens I mean, not you."

"Gee, thanks," Tiv told him sarcastically. "Actually, minus the sarcasm. I really don't believe I _want_ you to think I'm cute."

"Well, as entertaining as this is," Obi-Wan said, "Maybe we can get onto _another_ topic before it becomes so interesting that it rots our brains."

"Like holo-vids?" asked Ani.

"Exactly like," his master told him.

"Have you thought up names for the kittens yet?" asked Taun We, obliging Obi-Wan's request for a change of topic.

"Not really," Tiv replied. "I'm thinking maybe Tassel for the fluffy one," she gestured at the kitten in Colac's hands, "but I'm not sure…"

"Tassel's good," Luke confirmed.

"Sounds like Hassle," Ani disagreed.

"Hassle's good," Qui-Gon suggested.

"No," Taun We said firmly. "Who would name a kitten Hassle?"

"Obviously, Qui-Gon would," Padmé pointed out.

"It was just a _suggestion_," Qui-Gon defended himself.

"I'm sure it would be a very good name," Tiv soothed. "For Ani."

As the others laughed and Ani tried not to, the kittens started to look rather freaked out by the wrestling pair.

"Tiv, you're scaring the kitties," Colac told her. His sister gave Ani one last punch and stopped. After a moment, Ani did too.

"Okay, so, Tassel it is," Taun We decided. "And Hassle it is not."

"So what about the second one?" asked Qui-Gon.

"How about 'Kitty'?" teased Luke.

"How about not?" retorted Tiv.

"Fuzzball?" suggested Boba. "Twitch? Snicker? Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Uhh… That's all I've got. I'll get back to you when I come up with something else."

"Nameless One," offered Ani. "Food. Futon? Sofa? Couch?"

"Couch?" demanded Tiv. "Okay, well, _you're_ out of ideas."

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Cactus?" put in Obi-Wan. Everyone stared at him. "Okay, well, I just felt that I should contribute something here."

"Rain? River?"

"Cats don't like water."

"How do _you_ know?"

"What kind of name is that?"

"What?"

"No, I am _not_ naming a kitten 'what'?"

Everyone stared at Tiv for a moment. "Uhh, Tiv?" asked Qui-Gon uncertainly.

"That's _my_ name," the girl told him, trying not to grin. Realizing that she was joking, everyone laughed.

"No, I don't think I want to name it 'Ha ha," Tiv laughed.

"What about 'Hee hee?" suggested Luke.

"Or 'Buzzard?" offered Colac.

"Buzzard?"

"That's what Padmé calls the Senate and the Council. Old buzzards. But since she's _on_ the Senate, I figure that's a good thing."

"Uhh," Padmé looked a little unsure how to explain that. "Not exactly…"

"_My _master calls them buffoons a lot," said Ani. "And lunatics and stuck-up. And a lot of other stuff, but he usually covers my ears first."

"Mine calls them things in other languages, and then tells me not to repeat it," Luke put in. "I _don't_ think he's calling them anything nice."

"So does mine!" exclaimed Tiv.

"Yeah, I guess that must be where he picked it up," Luke agreed.

"Maybe that's what mine's saying when he covers my ears," Ani mused.

"As entertaining as this is," Taun We said. "I doubt they all really need to hear what the others call the Senate and the Council."

"You just don't want me to tell them what _you_ call them," Boba laughed. He leaned over and whispered to the other children, who made a big show of giggling at it.

"Back to cat names…" Qui-Gon suggested.

"That's it!" exclaimed Ani suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him expectantly, but all he had to say was, "Cat."

"You must be joking," Tiv moaned.

Ani nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I am."

"Berry?" offered Padmé suddenly. She pointed towards the kitchen. The kitten whose name was so elusive had crawled in there while they were distracted and eaten his fill of the berries that Tiv had recently brought home. His face and paws were now entirely blue.

Tiv picked up the kitten and studied it. "Berry it is," she agreed.

Thank you, Omnimusha2b and Mikey15 for your reviews. Please review you guys! (That's to the rest of you, I mean) Any suggestions or comments are welcome, preferably _outside_ of flame form. You can critisize without flaming. But still, reviews are welcome!


	12. Past or Future?

Tiv was going through an extremely difficult trial that her Jedi training wouldn't be able to help her with. Washing a kitten.

"Berry! Hold _still_!" she cried, trying to keep the kitten in the sink without drowning it. Actually, since it spent so little time actually _in_ the water, there wasn't much danger of that.

Outside, the voices stopped for a moment and Qui-Gon called, "Tiv? You need help?"

"No, I'm fine," she answered, grabbing Berry and shoving him back in the sink "Come _on_," she muttered. "I don't want him to think I can't bathe a kitten without his help. I _believe_ I'm a little more self-sufficient than that!"

Although, as she said that, she wondered why she exactly _cared_ what Qui-Gon thought. After all, he was a Jedi. Tiv blinked as she thought that. Well, _that_ wasn't much of an excuse to hate him. _She_ was a Jedi, too, now.

_For_ now, she reminded herself. She had done everything in her power to get them to refuse to allow her to train with him. The mistakes she had pretended to make during the test the Council had given her should have been enough, especially coupled with her age.

But they had 'let' her train as a Jedi. That wasn't good. Tiv didn't _want_ to be a Jedi, but what could she do? _Act like an uncontrollable moron until Qui-Gon gives up on you_ she told herself. He seemed to be a patient man, but even _his_ patience had to run out eventually.

The shields were good. She was glad her mother had taught them to her, along with meditation. She had been _planning_ to teach her to use a lightsaber, too, but then her mother had died. And now she was stuck training as a Jedi, which she _knew_ her mother would have never wanted.

But she wasn't stuck for long, oh no! Not with her refusal to explain to her master _why_ she had mental shields, or how she knew how to meditate. And if the conversation she had overheard before bringing in Berry and Tassel was any indication…

Then what? What did that mean? She could tell herself that it meant that Qui-Gon didn't trust her because of her shields and meditation, but that wasn't true. He had said that he didn't think she was a Sith, and had spoken almost like he actually saw her as something more than a nuisance.

And he had been completely right about Kolar, and what she had been worried about when Windu had sent Colac away. Or… tried to. But Padmé had stuck up for them, even if it meant that she had to take care of an eight-year-old. Why?

For that matter, why hadn't Qui-Gon argued against keeping _her_? As well as he hid it, it was plain that he hadn't expected to be told to take her as his Padawan. Or if Obi-Wan believed that she was a Sith, why hadn't he argued more forcefully against her new master? It was almost as if he wasn't trying to prove his point, merely… debating.

A sudden notion occurred to her as she thought about Obi-Wan. The day she had met Boba and gotten knocked out by Anakin and the door, she had seen that image of the two Jedi. The older one, whose Padawan had called him 'the closest thing I have to a father' was Obi-Wan! Then the younger one? An older version of Ani? But Obi-Wan had looked younger? Maybe it was a previous Padawan… no, Ani had told her that he was Obi-Wan's first. The fact that Obi-Wan had looked younger must have just been her imagination.

Tiv couldn't help but laugh at that idea. Her imagination was exactly what it was. Her imagination was exactly what this _whole_ thing was. She simply could _not_ be seeing images of Ani and Obi-Wan before she had even met them.

As if on cue, another one of those images occurred to her.

_Something was burning on a table-like thing nearby. A nearly silent group of people was gathered around it, watching sadly. As Tiv looked closely, she thought she saw tears in the eyes of a young woman who looked as if she could have been Padmé's younger sister._

_A young boy of about eight or nine was standing near a Jedi who looked about the same age as the one from last time. He was wearing a hood, so she couldn't see if he was a Padawan or not, but he looked young enough to be. _

_As the thing on the table burned, the boy turned around and asked the Jedi, "What will happen to me now?"_

"_I'll take you back to Coruscant with me," he said. So they weren't on Coruscant, Tiv thought. She made a mental note to find out where they were. "I promise you, Anakin, you_ will_ train as a Jedi."_

_Anakin! Was this boy a younger version of the Jedi she knew? But the man definitely wasn't Qui-Gon…_

_A loud 'pop' from the burning thing attracted her attention. Tiv turned around, and, knowing somehow that nobody could see her, decided that she should get closer. She didn't know why, but suddenly, it was of utmost importance that she see what was burning on that table._

_As the ghostlike girl moved closer, the fire seemed to shift slightly so that she could see what was on it. It was a man, and he was dead._

_The fire shifted again so that she could see his face. It was Qui-Gon._

"Tiv? Tiv! Coruscant to Tiv, we've lost communications!" Tiv blinked and shoved away the hand that was waving in front of her face.

"Sorry, Master," she muttered. Glancing around the room, she almost thought that alternate reality would be better. Then she shook that off. She didn't want to train as a Jedi, but that didn't mean she wanted Qui-Gon dead!

But it was impossible. The Jedi had called the boy 'Anakin', but the Anakin she knew was much older. And yet… Anakin wasn't a common enough name for Qui-Gon to know _two_ of them, right?

So it was obvious that it was the past. But if Qui-Gon was dead, then it must be the future, because the Qui-Gon she knew definitely _wasn't_ dead.

Unless you took the most reasonable explanation, which was that none of this was real at all. But how was she daydreaming without knowing it? And why didn't she have any control over it….

"Where _were_ you?" Qui-Gon was asking. Tiv dismissed the images as fantasy, and returned to reality.

"Sorry, Master. I was just… daydreaming."

Qui-Gon chuckled. "I haven't seen anyone that lost in a daydream since…" He paused, and seemed to thing about something. "Never," he finished, a little too quickly.

"Sorry," repeated Tiv. She glanced around and found Berry hidden in the shower, while the entire bathroom was soaking wet.

"Cats can bathe themselves, right?" she asked. Qui-Gon smiled.

"Close enough."

Well, that was short, but my Mom's chasing me off the computer now. Thank you to all my kind and wonderful reviewers. And, yes, I _know_ that wasn't what Obi-Wan said to Anakin in Episode I, but, as Qui-Gon said, "Close enough." So, what do you think? I'm guessing that this one will be a bit shorter than the last, because I've finally figured out where I'm going with this. Although this _might_ turn out to be a trilogy- eventually. Might and eventually are the keywords there. Have a happy today!


	13. Accidental repeat of chapter 12

**_HEY, PAY ATTENTION!_**

Thank you. Anyway, this chapter is the same as the last one, but I can't figure out how to delete it without messing up my order, so live with it. Don't read this chapter, unless you need a review of the last one. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Tiv was going through an extremely difficult trial that her Jedi training wouldn't be able to help her with. Washing a kitten.

"Berry! Hold _still_!" she cried, trying to keep the kitten in the sink without drowning it. Actually, since it spent so little time actually _in_ the water, there wasn't much danger of that.

Outside, the voices stopped for a moment and Qui-Gon called, "Tiv? You need help?"

"No, I'm fine," she answered, grabbing Berry and shoving him back in the sink "Come _on_," she muttered. "I don't want him to think I can't bathe a kitten without his help. I _believe_ I'm a little more self-sufficient than that!"

Although, as she said that, she wondered why she exactly _cared_ what Qui-Gon thought. After all, he was a Jedi. Tiv blinked as she thought that. Well, _that_ wasn't much of an excuse to hate him. _She_ was a Jedi, too, now.

_For_ now, she reminded herself. She had done everything in her power to get them to refuse to allow her to train with him. The mistakes she had pretended to make during the test the Council had given her should have been enough, especially coupled with her age.

But they had 'let' her train as a Jedi. That wasn't good. Tiv didn't _want_ to be a Jedi, but what could she do? _Act like an uncontrollable moron until Qui-Gon gives up on you_ she told herself. He seemed to be a patient man, but even _his_ patience had to run out eventually.

The shields were good. She was glad her mother had taught them to her, along with meditation. She had been _planning_ to teach her to use a lightsaber, too, but then her mother had died. And now she was stuck training as a Jedi, which she _knew_ her mother would have never wanted.

But she wasn't stuck for long, oh no! Not with her refusal to explain to her master _why_ she had mental shields, or how she knew how to meditate. And if the conversation she had overheard before bringing in Berry and Tassel was any indication…

Then what? What did that mean? She could tell herself that it meant that Qui-Gon didn't trust her because of her shields and meditation, but that wasn't true. He had said that he didn't think she was a Sith, and had spoken almost like he actually saw her as something more than a nuisance.

And he had been completely right about Kolar, and what she had been worried about when Windu had sent Colac away. Or… tried to. But Padmé had stuck up for them, even if it meant that she had to take care of an eight-year-old. Why?

For that matter, why hadn't Qui-Gon argued against keeping _her_? As well as he hid it, it was plain that he hadn't expected to be told to take her as his Padawan. Or if Obi-Wan believed that she was a Sith, why hadn't he argued more forcefully against her new master? It was almost as if he weren't trying to prove her point, merely… debating.

A sudden notion occurred to her as she thought about Obi-Wan. The day she had met Boba and gotten knocked out by Anakin and the door, she had seen that image of the two Jedi. The older one, whose Padawan had called him 'the closest thing I have to a father' was Obi-Wan! Then the younger one? An older version of Ani? But Obi-Wan had looked younger? Maybe it was a previous Padawan… no, Ani had told her that he was Obi-Wan's first. The fact that Obi-Wan had looked younger must have just been her imagination.

Tiv couldn't help but laugh at that idea. Her imagination was exactly what it was. Her imagination was exactly what this _whole_ thing was. She simply could _not_ be seeing images of Ani and Obi-Wan before she had even met them.

As if on cue, another one of those images occurred to her.

_Something was burning on a table-like thing nearby. A nearly silent group of people was gathered around it, watching sadly. As Tiv looked closely, she thought she saw tears in the eyes of a young woman who looked as if she could have been Padmé's younger sister._

_A young boy of about eight or nine was standing near a Jedi who looked about the same age as the one from last time. He was wearing a hood, so she couldn't see if he was a Padawan or not, but he looked young enough to be. _

_As the thing on the table burned, the boy turned around and asked the Jedi, "What will happen to me now?"_

"_I'll take you back to Coruscant with me," he said. So they weren't on Coruscant, Tiv thought. She made a mental note to find out where they were. "I promise you, Anakin, you_ will_ train as a Jedi."_

_Anakin! Was this boy a younger version of the Jedi she knew? But the man definitely wasn't Qui-Gon…_

_A loud 'pop' from the burning thing attracted her attention. Tiv turned around, and, knowing somehow that nobody could see her, decided that she should get closer. She didn't know why, but suddenly, it was of utmost importance that she see what was burning on that table._

_As the ghostlike girl moved closer, the fire seemed to shift slightly so that she could see what was on it. It was a man, and he was dead._

_The fire shifted again so that she could see his face. It was Qui-Gon._

"Tiv? Tiv! Coruscant to Tiv, we've lost communications!" Tiv blinked and shoved away the hand that was waving in front of her face.

"Sorry, Master," she muttered. Glancing around the room, she almost thought that alternate reality would be better. Then she shook that off. She didn't want to train as a Jedi, but that didn't mean she wanted Qui-Gon dead!

But it was impossible. The Jedi had called the boy 'Anakin', but the Anakin she knew was much older. And yet… Anakin wasn't a common enough name for Qui-Gon to know _two_ of them, right?

So it was obvious that it was the past. But if Qui-Gon was dead, then it must be the future, because the Qui-Gon she knew definitely _wasn't_ dead.

Unless you took the most reasonable explanation, which was that none of this was real at all. But how was she daydreaming without knowing it? And why didn't she have any control over it….

"Where _were_ you?" Qui-Gon was asking. Tiv dismissed the images as fantasy, and returned to reality.

"Sorry, Master. I was just… daydreaming."

Qui-Gon chuckled. "I haven't seen anyone that lost in a daydream since…" He paused, and seemed to thing about something. "Never," he finished, a little too quickly.

"Sorry," repeated Tiv. She glanced around and found Berry hidden in the shower, while the entire bathroom was soaking wet.

"Cats can bathe themselves, right?" she asked. Qui-Gon smiled.

"Close enough."

Well, that was short, but my Mom's chasing me off the computer now. Thank you to all my kind and wonderful reviewers. And, yes, I _know_ that wasn't what Obi-Wan said to Anakin in Episode I, but, as Qui-Gon said, "Close enough." So, what do you think? I'm guessing that this one will be a bit shorter than the last, because I've finally figured out where I'm going with this. Although this _might_ turn out to be a trilogy- eventually. Might and eventually are the keywords there. Have a happy today!


	14. Mondays and Strangers

As if Mondays weren't bad enough already, all day Tiv couldn't concentrate for thinking of the images she saw. Every moment a chant in her head kept repeating: "past or future, past or future?"

Because if Boba, Anakin, and Obi-Wan were so young, then it _had_ to be the past. But if Qui-Gon was dead, then it had to be the future, as much as Tiv might regret it.

Maybe she should _want _him dead, but at the moment, that was the last thing from her mind. Right now, she didn't care whether or not she was starting to like her Jedi captors, if only she could figure out this mystery.

Maybe it hadn't been Qui-Gon. No, that was impossible. As much as Tiv hated it, when the fire had cleared, the face she had seen was that of her master. He was dead, but it was the past.

It was, wasn't it? Unless, possibly, there was some reason for the future to be like that? Could people get _younger_? She wished there was someone for her to ask.

"Tiv!" a sudden voice called. She turned around and saw Luke jogging up to her. "How're you doing?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned. Tiv would have been touched, if she had really believed it.

"What do you want?" she snapped. Luke seemed a little taken aback, but he continued bravely.

"I just wanted to…" he began, and then stopped. "Look, Tiv, are you okay?"

Now it was Tiv's turn to be taken aback. She didn't know what she had expected, but it hadn't been concern. Not from a boy like Luke who was practically a stranger to her. Why should _he_ care? More importantly, why _did_ he?

"I- I'm fine, Luke," she managed to stutter out. Then she added, "Why?"

"Why what?" asked Luke, looking as confused as she did.

"Why do you care?" Tiv blurted.

Luke blinked. "Because you're my friend," he answered simply. "Why do you ask?"

Before Tiv could answer, Boba appeared, saving them both a lot more confusion and embarrassment.

"Luke, Tic, c'mon!" he cried, using the nickname for Tiv that he so tenaciously hung on to. "I gotta show you something."

"What are you even _doing_ here, Boba?" demanded Tiv as they followed him.

"Taun We brought me early. Hey, you can't say that this is exactly a bad time, can you?"

So he had heard at least part of their conversation. Typical Boba.

"Anyway," he added, "You're classes are over by now."

"Yeah, but we still didn't expect to see _you_ here for another couple of hours," retorted Luke.

"Well, don't _I_ feel unwelcome," Boba grinned. "I'll just go sulk."

There was a pause, and then Tiv said,

"I don't see you going anywhere."

"I'll sulk later," her friend replied. "Right now, this is too important."

Tiv and Luke exchanged glances. What could be so important that Boba would resist a chance to sulk for it?

They were about to find out. Actually, it would have really stunk if they didn't, but that just sounds better. Boba led them into the Meditation Gardens without slowing down. None of the children cared that they seemed to be disturbing just about everyone there. After all, whatever he had found scared or at least unnerved Boba, and that scared or at least unnerved Tiv and Luke.

"Here," Boba said suddenly, pushing aside some branches to reveal the small space behind a group of bushes that the boys had shown her a few days ago when they got into trouble with their masters.

Behind the bushes in their hiding spot were two people. A young man who seemed to be eighteen at the youngest and twenty-two at the oldest was lying on the ground unconscious. He was covered with dirt, cuts and bruises, although, besides not being conscious, he didn't seem too badly hurt. With surprise, Tiv noticed that he was a Jedi, probably a Knight, and a new one at that, she guessed by the small tuft of hair where a braid must have been recently placed. After all, he didn't look _nearly_ old enough to be a Master.

Perhaps he had gotten his injuries protecting the other person, because she certainly seemed to need it. She was about Colac's age, Tiv would guess, not a Jedi, probably rather rich. Brown hair and eyes, very pretty, although for now, just cute.

There was one other thing she noticed about them. The girl was unfamiliar, yes, but the man was the one she had seen in the images, three times. Each and every one was with Qui-Gon, and the last was at his funeral.

But Tiv didn't say any of this aloud. How could she? To do so would be actually admitting that she had _seen_ the images, and that they were real. While they and everything related to them remained in her mind, she could pretend the had never happened. And that she would keep doing as long as she could.

Boba knelt down next to the girl and said, "I've got to go find someone to help you, okay? This is Tiv, and that's Luke. They'll stay with you until I come back, understand?"

The little girl nodded, and he turned to his friends. "I don't know where she came from," he explained, putting a little emphasis and glancing pointedly at Luke, "but it must have been scary, because she doesn't want to be left alone for too long. You two were the closest people I could find. Will you stay with them until I get back with Taun We and the others?"

Tiv and Luke nodded, although Tiv made a mental note to ask why he had been looking at Luke in that meaningful way. Later, though. Now was not the time.

"Sure, Boba," Tiv said cheerfully.

He grinned. "Thanks, Tic," her friend told her. "You too, Luke." And he ran off.

The pair turned back to the other two.

"I wonder what knocked him out," Tiv commented, looking at the unconscious man.

Luke turned to the little girl. "Do you know?" he asked. Tiv was impressed, noticing that he managed to talk as if speaking to an adult, while still seeming gentle enough to talk to a very terrified child.

The girl shook her head. "I've never met him before," she whispered.

"It's scary," Tiv said comfortingly. "Going to a new place, I mean. But don't worry. It'll be okay."

"How do _you_ know?" the girl demanded sharply.

Tiv was taken aback for a second, and then said, "I don't, really. But I guess that it'll be okay for _somebody_, right? So the universe can't be all bad."

"Wow, Tiv, I didn't know you were so philosophical," teased Luke. She ignored him, mostly.

"I'm Leia," the girl said.

"I'm Tiv, and this is my friend Luke. The other boy was Boba."

Suddenly the man on the ground moaned, and all three turned back to him. Tiv knelt down and examined his head.

"What is it?" asked Luke nervously.

"Uhh, well, he got hit on the head. And it's bad and will probably hurt when he wakes up."

"And what should we do about that?" demanded her friend.

She glared at him. "Ask a doctor. I have no idea."

"Maybe not wake him up," Leia said suddenly. They both turned to her, and she shrugged. "Well, if it will hurt when he wakes up, then we shouldn't wake him up, or it'll hurt, right?"

"Kids are so logical," muttered Tiv, straightening up. "She's probably right. Let's just leave it alone."

The man moaned again, and began to shiver.

"Well, at least we should make him more comfortable," suggested Luke, pulling off his cloak and putting it over the man. Tiv stared at him in surprise. It was cold and about to rain, so Luke would probably be cold without his cloak. Why was he giving it up for a complete stranger?

Not to be outdone, she pulled off her own cloak and placed it gently around his head so he wouldn't bump it while thrashing around. When she stood back up, she saw that Luke was watching her with an odd look on his face, somewhere between amusement and pride.

"What?" she demanded.

Before he could answer, they heard footsteps from outside, and Boba's voice calling them.

"Uhh, guys?" he called. "Where are you? I kinda… forgot where the entrance is."

"You're so stupid, Boba," Tiv said.

"We're over here," Luke added, a bit more helpfully.

"_Thank_ you," said Qui-Gon's voice, and Tiv suppressed a smile. These two strangers would be alright now, she was sure.

The adults and Boba entered the 'secret' area and stopped short.

"Oh, Force," Qui-Gon muttered. "Not again."

So what did you think? Review and tell me, as always. Did you see that coming or didn't you? Yeah, I'm pathetic. Hey, what did you think of Tiv suddenly being so sure that everyone would be alright as soon as Qui-Gon showed up? Any guesses as to who the unconscious man is? Anyone want me to shut up? I'm guessing there are going to be quite a few people nodding their heads about now. Have a happy today!

-Whosa


	15. Wake Up

Obi-Wan Kenobi would have sat up and moaned as he had done so many times before, but, when he tried, he found that he couldn't. It didn't feel like he was paralyzed, and he shouldn't be, especially since he didn't remember getting hurt. It didn't feel like he was restrained, although that would have made more sense, since he didn't know _what_ had happened to him. It felt like he was… too tired.

He almost laughed at that thought. Too tired! Why he hadn't been too tired to get out of bed since, since… since his Master was alive.

Remembering that, Obi-Wan resolved to get up. Qui-Gon was dead and he was training Anakin. It was already hard enough without having to explain to the boy why he was sleeping late.

Anakin! Suddenly, Obi-Wan sat bolt upright, memory shooting through his head, and pain shooting through his ribs. Ow. Not a good idea, Obi-Wan.

He lay back down, looking around at the room. Seemingly, he was in the Healer's Wing in the Jedi Temple. That was good, sort of. What was bad was that his nine-year-old apprentice was missing, disappeared into thin air.

Obi-Wan had been chasing around the Temple looking for him, sure that it was another of Anakin's pranks when he had heard whispering in some bushes by the Meditation Gardens. Remembering that he had played there as a boy, and assuming that it was some Padawans doing the same, he had moved closer. Maybe they could tell him where Anakin was.

The small opening was too small for him to fit through, or so he thought. But when Obi-Wan peeked around the bushes, he saw that the opening had grown. Shrugging that off, he remembered overhearing a few of the older Padawans commenting that they should cut through so they could get to it now. He had entered by the newly enlarged way, and…

Woken up here. Obi-Wan frowned. He hadn't been hit on the head, he was sure. None of the Padawans would have attacked him, and even if it _wasn't_ them, his head was perfectly intact. So why had he been unconscious?

"So you're awake," a voice said suddenly. He looked up to see an alien whose species he had never seen before. It had a pale white head, and hands, with blue cloth covering her neck, arms and legs, and yellowish eyes. The voice sounded female. 'She' was humanoid, although taller than even Qui-Gon, and very skinny.

A young man only a few years older than Obi-Wan himself with blonde hair entered through the same door as she had. "It would appear so," he commented sarcastically.

Obi-Wan blinked. Something about the man seemed vaguely familiar, although he was sure, searching his memory, that he had never met him before.

"Wha-What happened?" asked Obi-Wan in a croaking voice.

The other man rolled his eyes. "Oh good, he's awake, _and_ can talk. An added bonus."

"Anakin, shut up," the alien instructed.

That caught Obi-Wan's attention. "Did you say 'Anakin'?" he asked.

"Yes, that's his name," she told him. "I'm Taun We," she added as an afterthought.

"Bu-but there are no Jedi Knights at the Temple named Anakin!"

"How do you know I'm not a Master?" asked the man.

"Huh?"

"There is actually _one_ Knight at the Temple named Anakin," he continued, ignoring Obi-Wan's surprise. "Me."

"Anakin, what did I tell you about talking?" asked Taun We.

"Nothing," 'Anakin' replied snottily.

"Well, what did I tell you about shutting up?"

"Do it."

"Well, then!" she turned back to Obi-Wan. "So, Obi-Wan…"

"Wait, how'd you know my name?" he demanded.

Taun We blinked, and then smiled. "Sorry. I sort of forgot that you don't know what's going on here. I know your name because Qui-Gon recognized you."

Obi-Wan started. "Did you say…Qui-Gon?"

"Yes. Well, your older self did too, after a minute, but it was Qui-Gon who really spotted it first." Ignoring Obi-Wan's look of hopeful confusion, she continued. "It's amazing, really, that he recognized you at this age after seeing your older self for so many years straight! He must have really enjoyed having you as a Padawan."

"Yeah, he was the nice one in the middle," the so-called Anakin commented. "After Xanatos, but before me."

"And what exactly did _you_ do that was so bad?" teased Taun We.

"I'm naturally nasty," he explained.

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Obi-Wan, wanting to stop these two from confusing him any more than he already was. "I was Qui-Gon's last apprentice."

"Not exactly," replied 'Anakin'. "We don't know who _that_ is. See, he has an apprentice now, but _she_ might be the last one, although we're not exactly sure. We all thought _I_ would be, since Qui-Gon kept saying that he wanted to retire and go hide somewhere while training me (I wonder if that was my fault) but he didn't and took on a new apprentice just a couple of years after I became a Knight…"

"But Qui-Gon's…" began Obi-Wan, and then stopped, not sure of how to finish this.

"Dead?" another man entered the room. He had blonde hair only slightly shorter than the first's, this time with a beard. He seemed smaller than his friend, although a few years older.

"He's not," the newcomer continued. "Well, he is, but not here, if you get my meaning."

Obi-Wan didn't. He couldn't think of a single thing since waking up that he had understood. Maybe he should just go back to sleep.

Before he could, he heard voices from outside the room, gradually getting closer.

"-talking about, Master," a girl's voice was complaining. "Who _is_ this guy?"

"Tiv, I've _told_ you! He's just an old friend from far away." Obi-Wan stiffened at the familiar voice, but they continued arguing, ignorant of his confusion.

"Old friend, my 'saber!" the girl (Tiv?) exclaimed. "Why was he so beat up? Where'd that bruise on his head go? Why didn't he show up _normally_? Master, I'm not an idiot. I can tell when I'm being _lied_ to!" she put an extra emphasis on 'lied', purposely needling him.

"That's enough, Padawan," the second voice said sharply. "He's a friend, and he needs our help. Jedi help those in need…"

"They also don't _lie_!" the girl cried angrily.

By now the arguing pair had entered the room. The girl looked to be about eleven or twelve, with dark hair and green eyes. _Angry_ green eyes.

The second man, Obi-Wan knew.

"Master," he whispered.

The man looked up.

"Oh, Force," he muttered. "Hello, Obi-Wan," his dead master said.

Sorry about the ending, I'm just not feeling like writing today. I've been sick and I'm still feeling run-down, but I wanted to get this chapter up. The things I do for you. (Shakes head) How can you repay me? REVIEW!


	16. They're all Sith!

"Hang on, what about me?" demanded Tiv. Qui-Gon gave her a tired look.

"What _about_ you?" he snapped.

"When are you going to explain all this to _me_?"

Qui-Gon sighed. "_I_ won't. The Council will when you become a Knight."

"I can't wait that long!" exclaimed Tiv. "Anyway, _they're_ not Knights, and you told _them_." She pointed accusingly at Luke, Ani and Boba, who were huddling outside the door, not wanting to get involved in an argument between the two. Then she turned to Leia. "And she's only _eight_! She isn't even _training_ yet, so why do _they_ get to know when _I_ don't?"

"Whining, Padawan," Qui-Gon warned. Tiv changed her tone, but didn't stop.

"I don't care _what_ you say; I've got a right to know! Give me one good reason why they do and I don't!"

"This directly affects them, just as it affected Luke and Ani when we told them."

"So why _Boba_? And how can you say that it doesn't affect _me_? **I want to know what's going on**!" Tiv cried angrily.

"Boba was simply there at the time, and the rules hadn't been established yet. And as for how it affects them more than you, to explain that would be to tell you, which I _will not_ do."

"_Why not?"_ demanded Tiv. "You never cared about the rules before, why start now?"

"Sometimes the rules are right," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"That's a very good point Obi-Wan," Tiv said sagely. "_For a different situation_. The rules _aren't_ right, admit it! You know it's true!"

"_Tiv_!" Qui-Gon snapped. "This will all be explained to you when you are a Knight, now _get out_!" Boba, Luke, and Ani scuttled away, sensing that this was going to get ugly. Obi-Wan and Anakin gave their master a regretful look and followed their Padawans. Taun We stayed put, glad that Padmé, Jar Jar and Colac were at home and out of the way.

"No!" exclaimed Tiv. "Not until you tell me what's going on!"

"_Tiv…"_ began her master warningly, but was interrupted by the younger Obi-Wan, who was still in the room.

"I guess Sith don't explain things to their children very well. Or is she your apprentice?"

The pair turned to gape at him. "What?" asked Qui-Gon finally.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "Seeing as _you're_ dead and _I'm_ not, I would assume that the Dark Side is the only logical explanation, especially since the Sith are back." He cocked his head and the asked curiously, "So is this a hologram, or are you shape shifters? I know there can only be two Sith at a time, and there must be one new one after I killed the one that murdered Qui-Gon."

Recognizing her chance for an explanation, Tiv bent down and asked him, "Qui-Gon was killed by a Sith? When?"

"A few months ago," Obi-Wan told her. "After he was, I took Anakin as my apprentice, and killed the Sith that murdered him. Not in that order, of course."

Tiv blinked. "Anakin as in Anakin Skywalker?" she asked.

"Yes, how many _other_ Anakins are there out there?" responded Obi-Wan. So he had her master's friend's sarcasm as well as his name.

"Well, how old is he?"

"Tiv…" began Qui-Gon warningly, but once again, Obi-Wan cut him off.

"He's nine," he told her. "So I guess since you don't know any of this, you're not a Sith?"

"I- well, I don't think so," said Tiv. "At least, I've never _thought_ I was a Sith. _They_ told me I was training as a Jedi." She jerked her head at Qui-Gon and the door through which the others had exited.

"Really?" asked Obi-Wan, intrigued. "I've never met a Sith who wasn't evil before."

"I guess, if you're right, I've never met a Jedi before," Tiv told him.

"Are you disappointed that you ended up on the opposite side then you thought?" the young Jedi asked her.

Qui-Gon started forwards to stop his Padawan from doing any more damage to his former apprentice's already confused mind, but Taun We spotted something on Tiv's face and stopped him. Together, the two friends watched the younger pair discuss this apparent reversal of sides.

"Not really," Tiv replied. "I mean, I guess I'm a little annoyed that they lied to me, for obvious reasons, but I never really wanted to train as a Jedi."

"Really? Why not?"

Qui-Gon thought the more appropriate question would be why she _was_, but Taun We was stopping him from asking it, so he had to leave it up to Obi-Wan.

Tiv shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I always heard bad things about them and their rules and stuff, so I wasn't sure if this was really what I wanted. And, you know, with that whole 'commitment not easily broken' junk going on, I didn't know if I could just quit if it turned out that I wasn't up to it, or didn't want to do this with my life."

Qui-Gon was amazed. In the short weeks they had been together, Tiv had said less to him than she was now to his injured apprentice from another timeline. Well, it wasn't that she spoke less words, but they were more trivial, not the important things that she was now telling Obi-Wan so freely.

And to his increased surprise, Obi-Wan nodded sagely. "Yeah, it's tough stuff, being a Jedi. I really don't know you well enough to say if you're up to it, but you've got a good master, and you seem smart, so I guess you'll do fine."

"I thought we'd agreed that they were Sith?"

Obi-Wan stopped, and then smiled. It didn't quite reach his eyes, as the expression goes, but it was an effort. "Yeah, I forgot about that," he said. "It's good illusions, this stuff."

"Yeah," agreed Tiv. She looked around. "Is this really what it was like, training as a Jedi? Does the place look the same, I mean, and the people?"

"It's perfect," Obi-Wan sighed. "The only flaw is… well, Master Qui-Gon, really."

"What's different about him? In the real world, I mean?" asked Tiv.

"He's dead," said Obi-Wan bluntly, and glanced down.

"Oh," muttered Tiv quietly. She hesitated, and then asked, "Were you his apprentice? I mean, the you in _their_ version is, but…"

"Yeah, yeah I was," Obi-Wan told her softly. He seemed distant, sad. Qui-Gon wanted to comfort him, but Taun We still kept him firmly rooted to the ground. That, and his utter shock at Tiv's sudden openness.

"What was he like in real life?" she asked. Obi-Wan didn't look up.

"What's he like in here?" he replied.

"Well," Tiv paused, but didn't even seem to notice Qui-Gon standing there. "He's strong, and very brave, probably one of the best Jedi in existence." She stopped again, and then continued. "And he's very kind, and doesn't overlook anyone, no matter how unimportant they are. He's forever picking up strays, from what the others tell me, always taking in…" she frowned, not sure what to call it.

"Pathetic life-forms," Obi-Wan said quietly, still staring at his hands.

"Yeah," Tiv grinned. "Like me."

"Oh!" the young Jedi looked up, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" He saw that the other was laughing.

"Actually, I tend to call _myself_ a pathetic life-form quite often," she told him.

Obi-Wan gave a sad smile. "Yeah, sorry. It was just… well, Qui-Gon and I used to always talk about it and whenever he picked up a new… friend, I'd call it a 'pathetic life-form'. It's a stupid joke, I know, but I guess I was just glad to have a joke just between us, and someone to share it with."

Tiv smiled, not as sad as Obi-Wan had. "I understand," she said softly. "It gets lonely sometimes, not really having any friends." She winced, realizing how obvious that was, but for once, Obi-Wan didn't make any comments on it.

"Don't you have friends here, at the Temple?" he asked, looking up.

"They're all Sith," she pointed out. "Or holograms or whatever."

"Well, before you knew that, I mean."

Tiv hesitated for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, and then said, "I don't know. There are some other Padawans who I hang out with a bit, and Luke _says_ I'm his friend but… I guess I just don't trust that easily. I've had a hard time believing that they really care. I guess now it's just proven that they don't."

If Taun We hadn't been holding Qui-Gon's arm so tight, he would have shouted something to them. You might wonder why her holding his arm would stop him, and the reason was because her other hand was over his mouth, preventing him from reaching out to either of his apprentices. They had to work this out on their own.

"Why?" asked Obi-Wan. "Did you have a hard time believing that they care, I mean? Even before you knew the truth?"

Tiv shrugged. "I dunno. I guess just because I couldn't see any reason for them _to_ care. I mean, they didn't know me, I wasn't important, nothing I could do would help them." She stared down at her hands, assuming the same position he had just been holding.

There was a quiet pause during which Qui-Gon seriously considered biting Taun We's hand to get her to let go. But he didn't because A) he knew that wouldn't make her let go and B) she was right. The pair had to work this out _without_ his help. He was just a fly on the wall.

"You asked me what Master Qui-Gon was like in real life," Obi-Wan said suddenly. Tiv glanced over at him. "Well, he was mostly like what you described, but the main thing was, he always cared. About _anyone_. Whether he knew them or not. I guess that was his real defining trait. It's what everyone loved about him."

"But he's like that in _this_ false reality too!" Tiv exclaimed. But Obi-Wan shook his head.

"Not as much as I remember. Not if he can care about you and you can still believe that he doesn't, or wonder why. That's what really was Qui-Gon, his caring for people."

"I wish I had known him," Tiv said quietly. Before, she had just assumed that the Qui-Gon she knew was exactly like the real one. But if this one trait was the only difference, then she felt as if she truly didn't know him at all, and had missed knowing a great man.

This time, apparently thinking that this would be too much for him, Taun We yanked harder on Qui-Gon's arm, and pulled him out of the room.

"What?" he hissed, glaring at her as soon as she removed her hand from his mouth.

"What, what?" she retorted. "You _know_ that maybe the only thing keeping Obi-Wan from believing that we're all Sith is Tiv."

"Are you out of your mind!" Qui-Gon snapped. "Tiv's _feeding_ his crazy theory, not _stopping_ it!"

"Maybe that's exactly what he needs," Taun We responded calmly. "Reverse psychology."

"Reverse- Taun We! You can't _honestly_ believe that would work!"

"Okay, maybe I don't," the cloner admitted. "But still, this talk is _helping_ Tiv, and, in some inexplicable way, it seems to be helping Obi-Wan."

Qui-Gon couldn't argue with that. His friend was right, as much as he hated to admit it. "Alright," he muttered finally. "But if this doesn't work…"

"You'll blame me, and then spend twenty minutes thinking of all the gruesome things to do to me, and threatening to do them, I know, I know," Taun We said. Qui-Gon grinned.

"Okay, so I'm getting a little predictable in my old age, so what?"

"You're not _that _old, Master," Tiv commented, coming up on them. Both adults turned around.

"So you've decided that I'm not a Sith?" asked Qui-Gon, trying to hide a smile.

"No," answered Tiv calmly. "But I've decided that I don't care, if that's what you mean." And she walked off.

"She doesn't… What was she talking about!"

"I think," Taun We said, "that she now believes that you're a Sith, but it doesn't make any difference to her."

"I _told_ you this wouldn't work," moaned Qui-Gon. "What am I going to do now?"

Taun We shrugged. "Well, if I were you, I'd be wondering why Tiv doesn't care which side she's on."

Okay, that's probably as long as I need it to be. Thank you, Fell Dragon for reviewing. Oh, and a special note to Alley Parker, although the rest of you can read it too: _I've been re-reading the reviews of Mirrors, trying to get ideas that I might have missed you guys suggesting, and I noticed that you said Obi-Wan calling people pathetic life-forms was mean. So I made him apologize. Hope you liked that! _Have a nice today!


	17. Short Chapter, Please Don't Kill Me!

Tiv was very confused. If these people were all Sith, why were they helping her? If, by now she knew they were Sith, and they knew she knew they were Sith, why didn't they come out and admit it? She was confused, but she didn't want to push it by asking the wrong question. Even living the way she had, she knew plenty of horror stories about what the Sith did to people who annoyed them.

Not that she hadn't heard an equal amount of horror stories about the Jedi. Tiv had never been completely sure about becoming a Jedi, but now she was equally unsure about the Sith. They wouldn't hurt her, of that she was certain. If they did, so what? It wasn't any real loss, although she should get Colac out as soon as this started to seem dangerous.

No, what was really bothering Tiv was how they had lied. For no apparent reason, too. After all, she didn't have anything against the Sith, or for the Jedi. These Sith certainly seemed the type to think things through and do the proper amount of research before jumping into something. Force knew Qui-Gon was constantly lecturing her about it. So, if they had really learned _anything_ about her or her life before kidnapping her into their apprenticeship, they would have learned not to bother lying.

She would have met an offer of apprenticeship made by the Sith the very same as she met the one made by the Jedi: she didn't know if she wanted to do it, but it wasn't as if she had a choice.

"Hey, Tiv! Tiv, guess what I found out!" Colac ran up to her, shortly followed by Leia.

"What is it, Colac?" asked Tiv tiredly.

"This girl here," he gestured wildly at Leia, "she's a real princess! Like in one of Nami's mom's stories! She's going to rule a _whole_ big place one day!"

Leia smiled shyly. "Hi," she said.

"Leia's really, really interested in the Jedi!" Colac continued, ignoring his new friend's shyness. "She's smart, too. You should tell her about your training, Tiv! I would, but I don't know enough."

Tiv smiled. It was hard to be depressed about the whole Jedi/Sith debate when little kids were so interested in a simple Padawan's training.

"Well, what do you want to know, Leia?" she asked gently. Leia grinned.

"Everything!" she exclaimed, and Tiv restrained laughter.

"Everything, huh. Well, that's going to be difficult. What do you already know?"

Leia frowned. "Nothing, really. I know that they were great protectors of the galaxy, and they died out a long time ago, but I don't know why. I didn't even know that they existed anymore."

Tiv hid her surprise well, considering the circumstances. "Anything else?" she asked.

"I know they used this thingy called the Force, but a lot of people now thing it's bogus. That's because the Jedi aren't around here anymore to teach it, and to prove to everybody that it exists. They started training when they were really, really little, and then they trained until they were even bigger than you are now! It took a lot of training, but it was worth it, because the Jedi were really good and tough and everything."

This time, Tiv couldn't help but smile. "Well, you got the basics about right," she said. "When someone is found to be Force-sensitive, that means they can use the Force, they're taken to the Jedi Temple as infants. It's very, very rare for the Council to accept someone older than that. They're called 'initiates' at that stage, and they train until they're old enough to be taken as Padawans. Then a Knight or Master, two levels of Jedi past their apprenticeship, accepts them into personal training as a apprentice, or Padawan to that specific Jedi, who's called their Master."

"Who's your Master?" asked Leia curiously.

"His name's Qui-Gon Jinn. I'll introduce you to him later, if I get the chance. Anyway, they train and train until their Master says that they're old enough to take their Trials, to see if they really can become a full-grown Jedi. Then they're a Knight, if they pass, that is. After being a Knight for a while, if the Council sees fit, you become a Master."

"So what's the Council?"

Tiv went on to explain about the Council, lightsabers, fighting techniques, the Force, and anything else that Leia could think of, which was quite a lot. But the whole time, her mind was in complete chaos.

What had Leia meant, she didn't know they existed _anymore_? Why had she said that they had died out? And what about Obi-Wan? He had said Qui-Gon was dead, and all of this was just holograms or Sith or something. That fit with her images. What she was seeing was the truth. Qui-Gon had died, Obi-Wan had taken Anakin as his Padawan… and _then_ what? How did they end up here? Where _was_ here?

And to top it all, she didn't even know whether she cared or not. She had to choose a side _eventually_… But not now. For now, she had better just try to figure out what was going on, who to trust, and whether the Anakin Obi-Wan was talking about was really Anakin her master's friend.

Oooh, this was so _confusing_!

Well, I took forever to update, and now all I come up with is a short, uneventful chapter. Please don't shoot me! I can explain! No, really, I'm sorry. I've been having some trouble in school, and I'm getting migraines, and my dog got put to sleep, and I'm really stressed out _and_ I had writer's block! Wow, I've had a bad week. I'll make it up to you somehow. Just remember the ten page chapter. See? You don't hate me so much after all. Thank you, Phoenix Red Lion for reviewing.


	18. Passing Notes in Class

Luke glared at the wall and wished that Tiv would let him talk to her. She had been avoiding him for _days_ now. At first, he had accepted that, assuming that she would get over it eventually. After all, she couldn't keep this up forever.

But by now, he was beginning to doubt that. She took different routes to class, busied herself with schoolwork whenever he came near, glued herself to the side of people he hated, only went home when he was out sparring with his master or some other unavoidable activity, acted sick when their masters invited one another over for dinner, spent hours with Colac or otherwise away from the Temple, and even voluntarily went shopping with Padmé to avoid him. This was starting to get tedious.

It wasn't only him, either, although it mostly was. Ani and Boba were being avoided too. But not quite as much. Although Tiv seemed annoyed by them, and distanced herself, she didn't go into extensive trouble to stay away. That treatment was reserved for Luke.

And why _was_ she avoiding him? Nothing seemed to shake her out of her avoidance. Not even the sudden appearance of Obi-Wan and Leia. Tiv knew that her three friends had the answers, and she might be able to get it out of them, especially Luke. But she had yet to ask _any_ of them.

Right now, they were in one of the few classes they had together. Tiv was glaring at one wall, while Luke was glaring at the other. Earlier in the week, he had tried whispering or passing notes to his friend, but Tiv ignored him. Still, she couldn't avoid him forever. Luke decided to try again.

He quickly pulled out the appropriate instruments for writing a note, and began, well, writing a note.

_C'mon, Tiv! Why are you avoiding me? Don't just ignore everyone, it's not healthy. You're not helping anything. Cut it out, okay?_

_No, don't ignore this. It's just childish, okay! Cut it out!_

_You better__respond!_

_Luke._

He folded it up, and wrote on the front, _To Tiv. Others please forward._

Good. Now his friend wouldn't suspect that the person sending it to her was sitting right next to her, as Luke was. That way, at least she'd open and maybe even read it. He hoped.

Luke poked Tiv in the shoulder. She ignored him. Oh, well, there was _that_ slight obstacle. He sighed as if in resignation, and silently placed the note on her desk. Tiv didn't notice.

Now he had to do his best to turn around, watch the teacher, and pretend that he wasn't waiting on the edge of his proverbial seat for his friend to notice the note.

It was only a few minutes before he felt something poke his arm. Turning around, Luke saw Tiv holding the note out to him. "Cute trick," she whispered. "Don't do it again." She dropped the note onto his desk and returned to her stare-down with the wall.

But Luke had already been distracted by the sudden realization that his note was longer than when he had written it. Tiv had replied.

He opened it and began to read.

_Luke,_ the note said.

_Sorry I've been avoiding you and the other guys, okay? I've just been a little depressed lately, and things have been getting confusing. I'm sorry I can't explain better, it's complicated, okay?_

_I'm really sorry. It's nothing personal; I just have to work this out on my own. I promise I'll get back to you when I do._

_I hope you understand. _

_Tiv._

Luke sat back in his chair, just as confused as his friend's note claimed she was. What was it that she couldn't tell them about? They were thirteen, how complicated could it be?

There were the normal troubles that people their age had, but if _that_ was it, then why couldn't she tell him? They were friends, and they were probably both going through the same thing.

_What's the matter? _He wrote back. _Why can't you tell me? I promise I won't laugh._

Tiv looked at the note for a moment, and then scribbled back a response. There was a slight moment of hesitation, and then she finished what she was writing and passed the note to him.

_It's not you, okay. It's just… girl problems. I'll explain as soon as it's over._

The writing got slightly fainter as the note progressed, until the end was nearly unreadable.Luke glanced in surprise, both at the text, and the sudden lack of size. Tiv glared at her writing implement, and stood up to recharge it, leaving a very confused Luke in her wake. Girl problems? It was obvious that she wasn't referring to problems with girls, but what _could_ she mean? He'd have to ask Padmé or Taun We.

A moment after he made that decision, a loud crash distracted him from whatever he had suddenly transferred to thinking about. Turning around, Luke saw Tiv sprawled on the floor a few feet away. Behind her was a girl who had been carrying her chair to a different spot in order to see. She was holding her chair seat-first in a manner that made it difficult _not_ to trip over it.

"Oops, sorry," said the girl in mock concern, widening her eyes innocently. "I didn't mean to do that. Are you alright?"

Tiv stood up, glaring at the girl. It was obvious to anyone less oblivious than the teacher that the girl had done that on purpose. For a moment, Luke thought she was going to hit the other girl, but instead, she cracked a cheesy (and slightly scary) smile and said tensely, "Fine. I'm fine."

"Oh, that's good," the girl gushed, not to be outdone on the cheesiness scale. "For a moment there, I though I'd really hurt you. Wouldn't want that! I'd feel soooo guilty."

"It _was_n't your fault," Tiv growled, still wearing the plastered smile on her face. "I should have been looking where I was going."

"Oh, no, _I_ should have been!" exclaimed the other girl. Try as he might, Luke couldn't remember her name. "And I shouldn't have carried my chair that way, either! It was an accident waiting to happen."

"We all make mistakes," snarled Tiv. That awful, painful smile just wouldn't go away. "Jedi forgive and forget, right?"

Luke couldn't help but feel slightly proud of his friend. As annoying as these two were getting, the other girl certainly couldn't beat Tiv bringing the Code into this conversation. Then again, she _had_ been doing well earlier…

But they never had a chance to find out, because at that moment, the teacher interrupted. "Alright, girls," she said calmly. "Let's sit down now." Turning to the other girl, she added, "I'm sure you didn't mean to trip Tiv, and Tiv seems to understand that very well."

The girl bowed, first at the teacher, then at Tiv. "And we're all glad that you can be so forgiving. You'll make a great Jedi one day," she drawled, and floofed back to her seat, apparently forgetting that she couldn't see from there.

Ouch.

Tiv glared at her for another moment, and then turned, inclined her head slightly to the teacher, and stalked back to her chair. As the class resumed its normal flow, Luke pulled out their already almost filled note.

_She did that on purpose,_ he scribbled quickly. _Why?_

He handed the note to Tiv, who read it, and hurriedly responded with her newly recharged writing implement.

_She hates me. Actually, everyone seems to these days, but that's not the point. She's been doing things like that all week. I'm surprised you didn't notice._

Luke glared at her, and then wrote his response.

_I didn't notice because you were avoiding me! I was only concentrating on that, not some stupid girl I don't even know!_

Tiv picked up the note, grinned as she spotted his glare, and wrote back.

_Sorry. I'm just a little crabby today, okay? I didn't get much sleep last night and everything. _

_Anyway, I'm fine, so it doesn't really matter, does it? _

_P.S That was a rhetorical question._

Luke blinked, and began to write.

_Oh, come on! I knew that it was a rhetorical question, how stupid do I look?_

_And you're not fine. You're writing with your left hand. What's wrong with your right?_

Tiv frowned as she read that, a frown that stayed in place throughout her response.

_I landed on it, okay? It just stings a little, I'm fine. Why do you care, anyway?_

Luke contemplated answering that verbally, but sighed and kept with their printed conversation.

_Why do I care? Haven't we had this conversation before? I care because you're my friend. Duh. _

_Ironically, the last time you asked me that, I gave the same response, and you've been avoiding me ever since! Are you going to start that again?_

Again, Tiv frowned as she read that, but this time, she seemed to be actually considering her friend's comments.

_Maybe I will, maybe I won't, _she answered finally. _Only time will tell._

_And that isn't an answer! I barely know you!_

Luke sighed, glanced at the timepiece, then at the teacher, and scribbled a hasty response.

_Look, can we talk about this later? Our masters are having dinner tonight, why don't you actually not fake sick for a change? That is, unless you want to keep avoiding me._

She grinned at that, and wrote a short answer.

_Okay. I'll see you then._

Luke wrote back.

_Hey, what about lunch? Aren't you going to eat with Ani Boba and I? Or-_

But the bell rang and Tiv scurried out the door before he could finish his note, much less give it to her.

Well, what did you think? The weekend has saved my writing style. _Anyway_, sorry about whining at you guys last time. I wanted to post this yesterday to make up for it, but I went holiday shopping with my friend and our moms, and then we got our dads and brothers and went out to dinner, and then all four of us had a sleepover, so now I'm writing this before she gets up. I might get another chapter up today, if I'm not too busy. I'm planning to give Tiv (no rhyme intended) some more visions, and I have an impending plot twist. So, anyway, review! Oh, and by the way. A few people reading this over my shoulder have suggested a romance between Tiv and Luke, or maybe Ani or Boba. With Tiv, I mean. This isn't a slash. I told them I'd think about it, which is the translation for: I'll ask all my wonderful reviewers! So what do you guys think about that? Vote just like you did with the Padawan thing last time!


	19. Where Death is so Common

Tiv leaned against the wall, scowling over her shoulder as her classmates filed out with more sane paces than her. Before anyone else she recognized came the girl who had tripped her, giggling with her friends. Then she identified the boy who had stolen her homework a few days ago. After that, it was as if the floodgates had opened, and every face had a name, or an incident.

Nobody noticed her. Nobody even looked her way, although Luke tried. Tiv ducked behind the corner before he spotted her, though.

Finally, the entire class had filed out. Tiv glanced back over her shoulder at the others, and the continued down the hall in the opposite direction. Hiding a grin, she closed her eyes.

"_Qui-Gon's defiance I sense in you. Need that, you will not!" Master Yoda informed the young man in front of him. The other Jedi inclined his head, but not before Tiv saw his face. It Obi-Wan, not her Master's friend, but the young man in the infirmary. _

_The scene changed. Tiv felt as if the planet was spinning, and she was the only one standing still. _

_Two young men, maybe brothers, were standing in the Meditation Gardens. They were dressed like Jedi, but they were talking and laughing like Tiv had never seen grown Jedi besides her master and his friends. _

_Suddenly, they stopped. A woman about their age was coming up on them. She wasn't dressed like a Jedi, but she seemed to know her way around, and the men recognized her. Although, from their wide eyes, she wasn't expected._

_She stopped when she was right in front of them, and grinned. "Hi, guys," she said._

"_Tiv?" spluttered the one on the right. Ghost-Tiv jumped, and looked closer at the woman. Now that they mentioned it, she _did_ see a bit of resemblance between the two of them. _

_Tiv grinned. "Nice to see you too, Ani," she told them. Now ghost-Tiv _really_ jumped. Ani? Then the other boy, was he Luke? Looking closer, she realized that he was. These were older versions of her and her friends. _

"_Tiv, where did you…" began Luke, and then stopped. "Wait. So what…?"_

"_Oh, that's articulate," muttered Tiv. "Glad to see _you_ two haven't changed."_

_Changed? Since when? Had she been gone for a while? How long? They were talking as if it were a long time but who would send a Knight on a mission for that much time? They couldn't be Masters… But Tiv wasn't dressed like a Jedi at all! Had she maybe left the Order? Then what was she doing back?_

"_Taun We's dead," said Ani suddenly and bluntly. Ghost-Tiv stared, but Tiv didn't seem too surprised. Instead, she nodded sadly, but calmly._

"_What got her?"_

"_Droids," Luke told her softly. "She didn't stand a chance. We lost Keiros, too, and two others. That girl who used to trip you up when we were Padawans, and one of my master's old friends. Boba lost an arm, too. Trying to protect Colac."_

"_Are they alright?" Tiv asked dully. Ghost-Tiv wanted to hit her, but that wouldn't really do_ _much, considering that she was insubstantial. How could she, how could they all, care so little about these deaths? These were _people_, some were friends! Why didn't they care?_

"_They're fine," Ani answered. "Colac's a little broken up about Taun We's death, but he's adjusting."_

"_Maybe you should talk to him…" Luke suggested tentatively. But Tiv shook her head. _

"_He's eighteen now. He should be over it."_

"_He was only _ten_ when this started!" protested Ani._

"_All the more reason. Kids are adaptable. We adjusted, no reason Colac won't." Ghost-Tiv glared at her other self, disgusted by this show of callousness. Not only did she not care, but Ani and Luke didn't seem to much either._

"_I guess you're right," Luke agreed. Ani nodded._

"_Of course I am," Tiv replied briskly. She turned and looked at the meditating Jedi that surrounded them._

"_Everyone else okay?" she asked finally. Both boys nodded._

"_How about on your end?" inquired Ani._

"_We're fine." Tiv obviously didn't want to discuss this. She turned around and started to walk off. "Give Boba and Colac my best," she called over her shoulder. "I might stop by again in a few years."_

_To ghost-Tiv's surprise, the boys didn't seem to mind the length of time they'd be separated. _

"_Tiv!" Luke called suddenly, jogging up to her. The woman turned around, looking calmly at him. _

"_What?"  
_

_Luke looked as if he wanted to say something, and then stopped. He frowned, but finally answered her. "We found this in Master Qui-Gon's apartments, just after you left. He had left a note, asking that we give it to you so… here." He shoved something into her hands._

_Tiv looked at it, ghost-Tiv leaning over her shoulder. It was a small rock._

"_It was sort of a habit of his," explained Luke. "To give all of his apprentices rocks." He frowned. "Don't know why, but he seemed to think that you'd understand."_

_To ghost-Tiv's surprise, Tiv smiled. "I do understand," she murmured. "Thank you, Luke." And she turned and left. _

"_Well I don't!" cried ghost-Tiv. Luke turned and gave her a confused look. _

"_Don't what?" he asked._

By the time Tiv had figured out that it was odd for him to be able to see her, she had also figured out that the Luke who was asking what she didn't wasn't the one she had been standing with.

"Don't what?" repeated Luke, the _real_ Luke, not the strange one from ten years later where death was so common and Tiv spent her life so far away.

"Don't nothing," retorted Tiv, starting to stand up. She groaned stiffly. "How long was I sitting there?"

"Over an hour," a voice form behind Luke asked. Tiv looked up (way up) and saw that her master was standing over her friend, looking down at her.

"Actually, closer to two," he continued. "From what we can tell. Luke and Ani found you here a few minutes ago, and got me. We were _about_ to take you up to the Healers, but now I can see that there's no need…"

"None at all," said Tiv hurriedly. For some reason, she instinctively wanted to keep these images she was seeing a secret, and a trip to the Healers might ruin that.

"Don't interrupt your master. As I was saying, there's no need, because you can walk there under your own power."

"Master! I'm _fine_," groaned Tiv. Qui-Gon glared at her.

"Indeed, my young Padawan," he said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "You _are_ fine, which explains why you've spent the last two hours lying on the floor unconscious. Absolutely. You wouldn't have done that _by accident_; of _course _it was by design. You _meant_ to do that. Since you're so much wiser than your old master, you will, of course, be able to explain to me _why _you wanted to spend two hours unconscious on the floor?"

Tiv may have been stubborn, but she recognized a losing battle. "Alright, Master," she muttered, standing. "I'll go."

"And are you planning to go on your own?"

"I think I'm old enough to get from here to the Healer's Wing on my own," snapped Tiv.

"I think you're also old enough to realize how easy it would be for you to simply _not go_," retorted Qui-Gon. "So, of course, you're old enough to understand why I have to come with you."

"Master! Don't you trust me?" teased Tiv.

Qui-Gon stared at her, and then frowned exaggeratingly to keep from laughing. He hadn't noticed that Tiv had a sense of humor before. "Actually, to be fully honest…"

"And a Jedi never lies!" added Luke.

"Very good, Luke. To be fully honest, Tiv, I don't."

All three laughed. "Suppose it's only to be expected," Tiv muttered. "Nobody trusts me."

"Maybe you're just not trustworthy," mocked Luke.

"Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not, that's for me to know and you to find out!"

Ha! So I'm done! With this chapter, anyway! Oh, wouldn't that suck if I ended the story here? Don't worry, I won't. And by the way, thank you, Fell Dragon, my kind reviewer. I'm sure that there's a very good reason that so few of you are reviewing, but I'm not going to ask. So, by Fell's request, I've been considering a relationship between Tiv and Luke. I'll give the rest of you some time to put in your two cents (as my mom would say) before I do anything definite, though. But that means that you have to review. So HA! Anyway… whatever. Have a nice today!


	20. The Return of the Yeahs

Obi-Wan glanced up as a door banged. Three people entered the infirmary, all ones he recognized. Sith-Qui-Gon, the Not-Sith girl, Tiv, and Sith-Anakin's apprentice, Luke.

As the went in, Sith-Qui-Gon turned to Luke and said, "Shouldn't you be getting home before your master starts worrying?"

The boy shrugged. "Actually, he'll most likely assume that I had something to do that I forgot to tell him about. Master Anakin naturally assumes that just because _he_ never told his master where he'd be, means that _I_ won't."

Sith-Qui-Gon grinned. "Very true. Alright, so shouldn't you be getting home before _I_ start worrying that your master will worry?"

Luke blinked at him. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Since I'm not wanted here, I'll leave." And he stormed off in mock anger. Tiv grinned, and then looked up at her master.

"Stay here," ordered Sith-Qui-Gon. "I'll go see if I can find someone." He turned around and left.

Tiv shrugged and sat on a bed next to Obi-Wan. "Hi," she said.

"Hey," Obi-Wan replied. "You still not a Sith?"

Tiv smiled at him. "I guess not. Although, the more I look at it, the more obvious it is that our logic was a little flawed. I mean, if they were Sith, why'd they tell me that they were Jedi?"

"To trick you into training with them?" suggested Obi-Wan.

"But that's just it! I don't particularly have any opinions on that issue. I mean, I've heard some horrible things about the Sith, but nothing worse than what I've heard about the Jedi. And I'm not exactly someone they'd want to train. I'm not good at much of anything, I have almost _no_ Force sensitivity, I have no appealing traits…"

"Including self-confidence?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Tiv, obviously not noticing his sarcasm. "There doesn't seem to be any good reason for them to pretend that they're Jedi."

"I guess you're right," sighed Obi-Wan. "You know, maybe Master Qui-Gon _was_ telling the truth about the whole alternate universe theory."

Tiv blinked. "Alternate… wait. Master Qui-Gon _told _you what's going on?"

"Yeah."

"Well he didn't tell me!"

"Yeah."

"I wonder why?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe he doesn't trust me!"

"Yeah!"

"But he said it was the rules…"

"Yeah?"

"So what if they are?"

"_Yeah_?"

"But he should have told me!"

"Yeah!"

"I'm sure he has his reasons."

"Yeah."

"Then why can't he at least tell me his reasons?"

"Yeah?"

"He said that to do that he'd have to tell me whatever it is."

"Yeah…"

"You _buy_ that? C'mon, he's obviously just getting out of telling us!"

"Yeah!"

"That's not true! He has a reason for not telling us, we just can't figure it out!"

"Yeah."

"So why can't we?"

"Yeah!"

"We're too young. We don't have the same experience that he does. The list goes on and on!"

"Yeah!"

"So what, we're inferior to him? Because we're younger? We're _always_ going to be younger than him, so does that mean that no matter _how_ old we get, he's always going to be able to refuse to tell us something, just because we're younger? Is that fair?"

"Yeah?"

"What I _mean_ is, we're not old enough! We will be eventually, but for now…"

"Yeah."

"For now, what? When _are_ we going to be old enough! I say we make him tell us today!"

"Yeah!"

"But why? Do we really _need_ to know?"

"Yeah?"

"Yes, of course we do! Look how much it's affecting the world around us!"

"Yeah!"

"I'm obviously never going to talk you out of this, am I?"

"Yeah."

"No, you're not."

"**Yeah**"

"Then, fine! Go try and _make_ him tell us! It's your loss when he doesn't!"

"Yeah!"

"You'll see. He'll tell us."

"Uhh, Tiv?" Qui-Gon was standing in the doorway, looking amused at the scene before him. Obi-Wan was only participating in this conversation by saying 'yeah', and Tiv was taking up both other sides with an argument with herself.

His younger apprentice looked up at him and grinned. "Yeah?" she asked.

Okay, I have a reason to have not posted! I've got a bad cold, and I was bogged down with homework, and my cats kept freaking out, and I got a schedule change so I had to catch up in all my new classes, and (this one's a little embarrassing) I sorta… forgot. Hey, it's not my fault, okay! I can blame… I mean, explain. Nobody reviewed, so I just kept writing whenever I felt like it, and didn't even post. I've gotten farther than I had in a while, but I keep forgetting how I'm going to end this! Well, I've gotten quite a few strange situations that Tiv and the others can get into, and I know where I want to go with this, I'm just not quite sure how they're going to get out of them. And by the way, if nobody else has anything to say on the matter, I'll just go with Fell's suggestion of a Tiv/Luke pairing.


	21. What Was Wrong

"From what I can tell, there's nothing physically wrong with her," the healer said. As much as Qui-Gon tried, he couldn't remember the name that had slipped through his mind like sand through a hole in its container in his worry for Tiv.

"Nothing at all?" he asked, confused. "With nothing wrong, she spent two hours unconscious on the floor?"

The healer shrugged. "I took the suggestion you had about it being Force-related and checked, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong in that area."

"The Council has told you about their suspicions?"

"That she _became_ Force-sensitive? Yes."

"And?" demanded Qui-Gon.

She shrugged again. "I checked her blood sample from several years ago. There hasn't been one taken since she was…" the healer looked at her datapad, and then back up at Qui-Gon. "Nine years old. Before that, she wasn't Force-sensitive, after you found her, she was. There's no explanation for it whatsoever."

Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows. "Did anything unusual happen to her during that time?"

"Do you thing I haven't checked?" the healer demanded irritably. "Nothing that's recorded. There weren't any noticeable Force surges in that area except…" she hesitated.

"What?" prodded Qui-Gon.

"Actually, never mind. That wasn't even in the area." Qui-Gon frowned at the healer's reluctance to tell him, but didn't push for details.

"There was _one_ other thing, though," she informed him as she began to walk away. Qui-Gon eagerly turned to her.

"What?"

"Whatever happened to Tivania before you brought her here was brought on by the Force. There were still traces of it on her for a split second before they disappeared."

Qui-Gon frowned again. "Why wouldn't I have sensed that?"

"I can't think of any reason why unless…" she paused. "Never mind."

The tall Jedi rolled his eyes. "No. You've already never mind-ed me _once_ today, that's the limit. Why do you think I didn't sense it?"

The healer sighed. "The only reason I can think of would be if Tiv was intentionally keeping something from you, and her mental shields were designed to block the Force signature from her master, who is more likely to find out whatever her secret is, rather than from a complete stranger, who is likely not to care."

Qui-Gon didn't like that idea, but he had to admit, the healer had a point. Still, as untrusting and suspicious as Tiv was, he couldn't believe that she'd design her mental shields specifically to keep him out, and he said so to the healer. She just shrugged, which seemed to be a favorite gesture.

"Try this. Have one of your friends who Tivania wouldn't expect to be as close to her as you probe her mind. See if it's easier for them or for you. For a normal Padawan, it would be easier for you, but…" she let the sentence hang. Qui-Gon decided not to point out that, having already trained four Padawans, he would know what was normal or what wasn't.

"Alright," he sighed. "Is there anything else?" he added.

"One thing," the healer responded. "Tivania has a brother, erm, Colac?" Qui-Gon nodded. "Where is he?" she asked.

"He's staying with Senator Amidala and Jar Jar Binks, why?"

"Could you bring him here?" requested the woman. "I'd like to run some tests on him, to see if whatever's happening to his sister might also be happening to him."

"Wait…" said Qui-Gon. "_Happening? _I thought that whatever made Tiv become Force-sensitive would be over and done with by now."

The healer shook her head. "Maybe. But we can't deny that odd things have been happening to your Padawan, Master Jinn. She may be finished with her… ordeal, for lack of a better word, or she may not be. We can't tell without having any readings from the time it actually occurred, which we don't have. But if this happens to her brother…"

"Then we'll be able to use his readings to compare to Tiv's?" asked Qui-Gon. She nodded.

"I'll have him brought here," he told her, and turned around again. This time, the healer didn't stop him.

Qui-Gon entered the other room, and Tiv and Obi-Wan looked up. "Hi, Master," they chorused.

The old Jedi raised an eyebrow at them, but chose to ignore that. "Tiv," he told her, "They can't find anything wrong with you, so they're letting you go, for now. No more two-hour sprees of unconsciousness, and that may be permanent." The girl got up to leave, but he stopped her. "Do you know where Colac is?"

"Probably at Padmé's… no, Boba was going totake him to Dex's today. They're probably still there."

"Can you catch up to him when they get back here? I saw Taun We at Obi-Wan's earlier, so this is probably where Boba'll go after he's done…"

"No problem," Tiv assured him, shrugging. "I'll go find Taun We now." And she bounded out of the room.

Qui-Gon blinked. Noticing the look of surprise on his master's face, Obi-Wan asked what was confusing him.

"Tiv," he explained. "Normally she'd demand to know why I wanted Colac, or downright refuse to help. Even if she _did_ bother to listen, she'd probably raise a whole fuss, and it would take _hours_ to convince her that I'm not trying to murder either of them."

"Maybe she's finally starting to trust you," Obi-Wan commented. Qui-Gon shrugged.

"I guess. But I wouldn't know why… would you?"

Obi-Wan grinned. "Maybe she's just decided that you're not a Sith after all. Maybe she's right."

Even as confused as he was, Qui-Gon couldn't help but smile at that. "Finally, it looks like I won't have to put up with everyone believing I'm out to get them," he muttered. Obi-Wan laughed loudly, and then winced.

"I don't understand this," exclaimed Qui-Gon, seeing his apprentice's pain. "Leia was fine, so were Luke and Ani when _they_ came through, why are you hurt?"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "You know me. The worst luck in the universe."

Although Qui-Gon didn't disagree with that statement, he wasn't sure that his apprentice was telling him everything.

Okay, thanks to all my reviewers, especially Ellenlome, who pointed out a few mistakes about Tiv, and Phoenix Red Lion, who reminded me that Obi-Wan _wouldn't_ have been hurt under normal circumstances. I knew that! Anyway, thanks you guys, weather has no right to be this cold without snow, and hope to see you in the next chappie (love that word!), which I'll get up soon. I hope.


	22. She Who Doesn't Exist

_Recap: Obi-Wan shrugged. "You know me. The worst luck in the universe."_

_Although Qui-Gon didn't disagree with that statement, he wasn't sure that his apprentice was telling him everything. But he didn't say anything, just shrugged._

"I suppose so. Obi-Wan?"

The younger man looked up from where he had been fiddling with his fingers, avoiding his master's eye. "Yeah?"

"Do you know _why_ Tiv… and you too… don't think I'm a Sith anymore?"

Obi-Wan shrugged, imitating his master. "I dunno why Tiv doesn't, she just came in here and said that she didn't think you were anymore. And, I dunno, I guess I was already having a hard time believing that you were, so it didn't take much convincing."

Qui-Gon grinned. "So you _don't_ think I'm a Sith, correct?"

"What, are you trying to tell me I'm wrong?" teased Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon shook his head hurriedly.

"Not at all, actually, I was trying to figure out why you did in the first place without actually asking you."

His apprentice sighed. "Master, look at it from _my_ point of view. You were dead, I was training Anakin, he disappeared, and I was… looking for him, when suddenly, I end up here. An alternate universe, where you never died, and trained Anakin, and somehow I ended up training another version of Anakin long after he was Knighted, with him training his son, who isn't really his _real_ son, it's another version of him from _another_ alternate universe, while you're training a random girl who doesn't even seem to exist in my universe!"

Qui-Gon looked up, surprised. "Tiv doesn't exist in your universe?" he demanded. "How do you know?"

Obi-Wan shrugged, which seemed to be as much _his_ favorite gesture as the healer's. It was starting to bug Qui-Gon. "Well, she told me that she lived behind a bar, and told me where it was, and it didn't exist in my universe. Also, a few years back, I was doing a report on someone with the same surname as her, and made the mistake of searching the last name only. Neither Tiv, nor Colac showed up."

Qui-Gon frowned. "But what… how would that change from universe to universe?" he asked. "Unless, my death wasn't the only change…"

"Well, would Tiv already have been born when you didn't die?" asked Obi-Wan, and then frowned. "Wait…"

"No, I… didn't die, two years before she was born. I don't think there was anything I could have changed…"

"Unless you saved one of her parent's lives, or something," suggested Obi-Wan. But then he stopped. "No, there was no listing for Merlos for over a hundred years. I doubt your death, or lack of it, could have changed something that happened before you were born!"

"But maybe my death wasn't the only thing that was changed here!" exclaimed Qui-Gon. "I mean, it might just be an effect of something he _did_ change, not the actual thing that was changed."

"So whatever it was might have happened centuries ago, and made it so you didn't die, but also made it so that Tiv, Colac, their parents, and a lot of other relatives of theirs, weren't even born," mused Obi-Wan.

"Or maybe they just had a different surname," offered Qui-Gon. His apprentice stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. This time, it didn't seem to hurt him.

"What's so funny?" demanded Qui-Gon.

"Do you… realize… how hilarious that sounded!" giggled Obi-Wan.

Qui-Gon couldn't help but crack a smile. But that didn't mean he wasn't still worried about Tiv. If the conclusions he had drawn from his conversations with Obi-Wan and the healer were right, then they would be in very big trouble indeed.

Well, what'd you think? I'm planning the next few chapters already, and what Qui-Gon is thinking, whether he's right, what's wrong with Tiv, and how Obi-Wan got so badly injured, will all come clear soon. As you might be able to tell, I'm getting pretty close to the climax here. Okay, good news and bad news. Good News: Winter break is coming, which means not only much more time to write, but also a much happier writer. Almost as happy as when you review! (hint, hint) And Bad News: I'm going away for about four or five days during winter break, so you'll be that long without and update. I'm leaving on Friday, and its Monday now, so I'll try to cram as much writing into the next few days as possible. Anyway, have a happy today!


	23. From a Kitten's Point of View

Berry growled in a satisfied tone, while his brother Tassel looked on from below. The prey beeped several more times, and a light flashed. Berry jumped onto it, and it beeped louder and faster, the light flashing out.

_Are you sure about this_? conveyed Tassel worriedly. _The big people might get mad if it really does belong here._

_Nonsense!_ retorted Berry. _If it belonged here wouldn't it have been here before?_

_But the girl brought it in and left it here,_ protested Tassel. _Maybe it's something important._

_Or, maybe, it's something potentially dangerous that she doesn't understand its danger. We're saving the big people, here!_

_But what if… _began Tassel, but Berry cut him off.

_Hush. It's wounded. I've almost taken it down._

By now, even Tassel was getting slightly interested in the hunt. _Why didn't it run? _he wondered. _It's almost as if it didn't know it was being hunted._

_Of _course_ it knew!_ exclaimed Berry. _Why else would it have survived this long?_

Tassel shook his head. He really had no idea, and suspected that his brother didn't either. He wished Berry wouldn't always pretend to know these things, but then, there wasn't much he could do about it.

_Alright, but if the big people get mad…_

_Then it's not your fault at all, _Berry assured him. _They'll see that. You're not helping me any._

Tassel was slightly indignant at that, but knew that Berry was only trying to get him to agree, which he didn't want to do.

The door opened, and Tassel rushed forwards, eager to get a glimpse of the outside area that the kittens were never allowed in.

A foot blocked him, and a hand picked Berry up and away from his prey. It was the girl big person. She seemed sad, but what she said didn't make sense at all, just gibberish that sounded something like,

"You know you're not allowed on the table, Berry." Odd how the big people spoke gibberish all the time and expected cats to understand.

_Is she sad?_ asked Berry. He knew Tassel understood these things better than him.

_Yes,_ conveyed his brother. _I don't know why. See if she'll tell you._

The girl big person carried Berry over to a sitting-place and sat down. Tassel scrambled over and climbed up onto her lap. The girl smiled sadly and buried her face in their fur.

Her next words were also gibberish. "I guess I'm just not cut out to be a Jedi, guys," she moaned. Tassel meowed, and she continued. "You remember those images I told you about seeing? Well, this one girl tripped me in class, she shoved her chair at my legs. She acted like she didn't mean to, but I know she did. After class, I went out, and showed myself some of the images to calm down."

Tassel wished he knew what she was talking about. It seemed important.

"I mean, I _know_ they're not real. Sort of… what if they are? Never mind. The point is, every time something's wrong, I automatically go to those images, like a security blanket. It's stupid and un-Jedi-like. We're not supposed to have…" She trailed off, and stared into space, as if thinking.

The door swung open again, but this time the kittens were too busy trying to get the girl's attention to run for it. The tall big person came in, calling something that sounded like: "Tiv?" If that was supposed to get the girl's attention, it didn't. She continued to stare at the wall, unmoving.

Seeing her, the tall big person said something that sounded like "Sith!" and hurried over to the sitting place where they were.

Carefully pushing at her shoulder, he repeated the sound "Tiv" over and over again, sometimes mixed in with other sounds that may have been words to him. But she didn't answer, didn't move.

He was too late for his apprentice.

Short, I know. In case you didn't understand, the tall big person was Qui-Gon, and the girl big person was Tiv. A sitting place is a chair, and Tassel and Berry are Tiv's kittens. They were based off my kittens, who don't seem to think that it's odd to sit on my lap while I'm sitting at a desk or table. That means that they're _under_ the table, and rather squished, but they don't seem to mind. Anyways, sorry about the cliffy, just couldn't help it. I'll try to get the next chappie up tomorrow or Friday, because on Friday evening, I'm leaving on vacation, which I've probably warned you guys about already. I don't have school Friday, but my parents might want help packing. Still, I'll have time before they get up! Well, have a happy today!


	24. A Darker Future

This was odd. Tiv seemed to be in one of her images, but this time it was… different. Instead of being herself, but a ghost, she seemed to be _inside_ another person. A split second of panic upon arrival had resulted in her struggling to get out of this stranger's mind, but she couldn't move. She didn't even seem to be a physical being, just a whisper, no, not even that, just a presence in this stranger's head.

But the panic had faded to be replaced by an almost repressive calm. Why bother struggling? she wondered. It wasn't as if there was any way of getting out. She'd have to see what was going on, and then she could decide what to do.

As in all of her times inside these images, Tiv felt as if her will was being driven by some outside force. It was what had made her look at Qui-Gon's face as he died, it was what had made her move forwards every time she entered a new realm, it was what showed her who she was to listen to and watch. And it was what was controlling her now.

But Tiv didn't have time to think any further than this, for that outside force was now driving her to look around.

She was aware of whoever's mind she was in, but beyond that, she was aware as if it were herself. She could feel the soreness in 'her' knees as she knelt on the hard floor. She could feel the trembling of 'her' hands as she clasped them behind her back. She could feel the terror in her mind.

And Tiv could see, exactly what whoever this was could see. She was kneeling on a hard, rocklike floor in a dark, unadorned room. Sitting in front of her was a cloaked figure on a chair that seemed to be made out of the same material as the floor. Rather uncomfortable looking, but she supposed it was this cloaked figure's own choice.

As the cloaked figure leaned forwards, she saw part of its face behind the hood. Obviously it, or rather, he, for the face was clearly male, wasn't trying to hide his face from her.

He was extremely pale, with a very wrinkled face. He looked to be extremely old, but one look at his piercing blue eyes, and no one would ever mistake him for a foolish old man.

"What news on the Jedi, my apprentice?" asked the man. So the mind Tiv was occupying belonged to his apprentice. Was it normal for them to be as afraid as Tiv sensed that they were?

"The cloner's been exterminated," responded the apprentice. Tiv flinched inwardly, hoping that they were referring to anyone but her… friend. Yes, Taun We was her friend, she decided, and she didn't want her to be dead.

"The Skywalker boys are still alive, but they won't last long. Fett lost an arm, and two other Jedi are down. We'll have them soon."

The man laughed. It was _anything_ but a happy sound. "Yes indeed, my young apprentice. But do not be too eager. This will take time."

"Yes, Master," agreed his apprentice. "But we have done very well, these past few months…"

"We have, haven't we," responded the man. It wasn't a question. "You have done very well in your early days as a Sith. Better than many do… But you must be cautious. Do the Jedi suspect anything?"

The apprentice grinned. Tiv could feel 'her' face stretch as it did, but didn't feel any happiness from the gesture. "They still believe I'm leading a rebel movement, yet they have never seen any of my people, or where we live. The fools."

The man leaned back in his seat. "Yes. But we still must be careful. Find some minion who will be willing to play the part for an hour or two when you return."

"Yes, Master. May I ask when that will be?"

He shrugged. "When did you tell them that you would return?"

"A couple of years', I believe was my wording," 'Tiv' replied.

"Then return three years from now," 'her' Master ordered. Tiv was shocked. Were these two really planning that far ahead? How were they planning on remembering it three years from now?

He dismissed the stranger whose mind Tiv was occupying, and 'she' exited the room with a bow.

The hall was nearly as dark as the room, lit only by a false torch on the wall every few yards. Tiv was impressed. Obviously, everyone inhabiting this place was nocturnal.

Although there were no windows, Tiv assumed that it was nighttime from the tiredness her host felt. That immediately disproved her theory of nocturnal inhabitance, as nobody was in the halls.

The stranger obviously knew their way around, and took each turn automatically. Entering a door, the person ignored the silent companion, and glanced around the room with a habitual air.

It was made of the same dark rock as the other room and the halls, but more brightly lit, with four of the odd torches, all crudely made as if Tiv's host had built them themselves. There was a small bed, a desk, and a dresser, but no pictures or mementoes adorning the walls. The tiny room appeared to be a bedroom, with a door off to the side that might have led to a toilet room.

As the door slid shut, Tiv's host turned around absently, and came face-to-face with the mirror that was standing besides the wall. She (now that Tiv could see the reflection, it was definitely a woman) paused and glanced into it sadly.

She was small, Tiv noticed, about in her mid-twenties, she would guess, with wild, dark hair, a Gungan-like face, and green eyes. Wearing a blue dress with a small pouch at the hip, there was only two odd things about her appearance. A small scar adorning her right cheek, and the fact that she was the older self that Tiv had seen in her earlier bout with these living images.

Before Tiv had a chance to react to that, the woman… herself… _she_ shook her head disgustedly, and turned away from the mirror. Tiv sensed that she was planning to meditate, but something made her hesitate. Instead, she crossed the room, and pulled something out of her pouch.

It was the small stone that Luke had given her. Now Tiv had no choice but to admit that this time was just a few hours after she had heard the news of Taun We's death. So that was why she hadn't cared. She was a Sith now; it wasn't callousness that drove her to the uncaring response she had given, it was evil.

Sith-Tiv held the stone in her hand for a moment, closing her eyes, lost in memory. Then, abruptly, she snapped out of her reverie, and opened a small box that was sitting on her desk.

Inside the box were three things. On top was a was a picture. In it, Tiv, perhaps only a year or so older than she really was now, was laughing, her arms flung around Colac's neck. Qui-Gon was standing behind her, with his arm around her shoulders, smiling calmly. Next to him, on one side, was Obi-Wan, who had a firm grip on Ani by the collar, while Boba seemed to be laughing at something his friend had done, and Taun We was holding him up by the shoulders. Tiv supposed whatever Ani had done must have been hilarious, because Boba looked as if he would have fallen over had Taun We let go.

On Qui-Gon's other side, Luke had one hand on Tiv's arm, and was saying something to her, while Anakin was leaning on younger Obi-Wan's shoulder. Padmé was holding a giggling Leia up, while Jar Jar seemed to be steadying the little girl.

Sith-Tiv moved the picture aside to reveal the other two objects in the box. There was a small shard of what appeared to be a lightsaber hilt, and a pouch that was tied off with a string. Instead of looking at either of those, Sith-Tiv simply put the stone into the box, closed it, and sat down on the hard rock floor to meditate.

As soon as Sith-Tiv entered her meditative state, all of her thoughts and memories seemed to be pushed back into the same part of her mind that Tiv was occupying at the time. And, of course, Tiv was immediately hit with all of them, and she didn't like what she saw about Sith-Tiv's past, possibly Tiv's future, one bit.

It took Tiv a while to piece together all of the random thoughts into a linear timeline. But when she did, she liked it even less.

A year passed after the time she was used to. Tiv remained in training with Qui-Gon, but never really managed to sort out her loyalties, never really felt as if she belonged as a Jedi. No matter what happened, she never admitted the slightest bit of friendship with the people who had so long taken care of her.

But then, Tiv and Qui-Gon were sent on a diplomatic mission to Tatooine. They were trying to negotiate an end to the war between the Tuskan Raiders, and the Hutts, but it didn't work out that way.

The war had ended before they had even arrived. The warring factions had finally found common ground: their hatred for the Jedi. As a beginning of their lives together as allies, they decided to lure two Jedi there, and kill them.

That would have been the end for Tiv and Qui-Gon, if a strange man hadn't suddenly appeared, and warned them of the trap. Although they hadn't entirely believed him, he had certainly slowed them down enough for the trap to be sprung on an unsuspecting fighter pilot.

The man had led them away to a place where he assured them that they would be safe. But, before arriving there, they had been attacked by Tuskan Raiders. To make a long story short, Qui-Gon died defending Tiv.

But that had been only the beginning of a terrible period in their history. After Qui-Gon's death, new attacks had began against the Jedi Order. It wasn't only from the Tuskan Raiders and the Hutts, but also the Federation, the Separatists, and a sudden barrage of enemies from all over the universe.

Even while that was going on, Tiv hadn't only had _that_ to worry about. After Qui-Gon's death, she had returned to the Jedi Temple, and the Council had ruled that she would join the initiates until another Jedi decided to take her on as a Padawan. She had stayed there for a while, but nobody seemed willing to train her. Watching all of the other initiates join their new masters, she was struck by a sudden realization that she had never belonged here. She had never truly been a Jedi, and never would.

So when the same man who had saved her life on Tatooine had showed up, it hadn't taken much convincing before Tiv had joined him. She had told her master's friends that she was organizing a resistance movement against the growing power of the Jedi's enemies, who were calling themselves the Purgers. The name came from the idea that they were purging the world of the oppression of the Jedi.

But that hadn't been her destination. Instead, she had joined her friend, named Sidious, on his own side. He was the leader of the Purgers, better known as the Sith Lord. After taking Tiv as his apprentice, he instructed her not to tell the Jedi where she really was until, as he put it, the time was ripe.

Tiv had a suspicion of when exactly that would be. Someday, they were planning on attacking the Jedi Temple. The reason for that wasn't only to destroy their enemies. Far from it. It was to create a new order, separate from the Sith, and definitely separate from the Jedi. Sidious himself would lead it, leaving Tiv in charge of the Sith.

This new order, called Sidi, in a shortened honor of Sidious, would be the balance between the two. With the Sidis, populated by Padawans kidnapped from the Jedi Temple, a terrible and wonderful army would be built.

Indeed, the Sidis would be perfect for the new leaders of the galaxy. After all, they alone would have a leader who was soon to be in contact with the leader of many other universes.

After that, Tiv would be handed leadership of the Sidis, while Sidious left to make sure that this same thing happened in all the other universes. Although Tiv and the Sidis would be left waiting, perhaps for many years, eventually Sidious would come for them. And he would lead all the bands of Sidis against the Jedi in his old universe. From there, once they had control, they would have each universe under their constant watch, and would be in their full power.

Suddenly, Tiv felt as if a hand had clasped onto her wrist, which was especially odd, since, being outside of physical form, she didn't have a wrist.

But, defying logic, whatever it was that had her dragged her into the room, where she found herself floating, in a ghost-like form visible only to her other self, in physical reality.

"Who _are_ you?" demanded Sith-Tiv.

"Tiv… I'm you…" Tiv fumbled, confused.

"My _name_ is Tivania," retorted Sith-Tiv, misunderstanding her other self's fumbling. "Tiv was a childhood nickname, nothing more."

"But… _I'm_ Tiv," said Tiv. "I mean…"

"Tivania is your real name," snapped Sith-Tiv, or Tivania, she supposed.

"No. Well, yes, but I mean… nobody calls me that. Except the Council, but well, they're kind of…"

"Fools," finished Tivania.

"At least we agree on something," Tiv muttered.

"That still doesn't tell me who you are," Tivania pointed out.

"I… well… I'm you. From the past, I guess. See, I was seeing these images, and then I just got… sucked in here…"

"_Without_ the pauses, please."

"That's it. I'm here, but I'm supposed to be in the past."

"When, exactly, in the past _are_ you?" demanded Tivania.

"Well, I've been Qui-Gon's Padawan for a little while… Leia and the younger Obi-Wan have been with us for about a week."

"We ended up calling him Obi, like we called the younger Anakin Ani."

"But we already _have_ an Ani!"

"No. Ani _is_ the younger Anakin, he's from an alternate universe. So is Luke, and Obi and Leia, too."

Tiv blinked. "Huh?"

"Long story short, Qui-Gon died when Darth Maul showed up, Obi-Wan trained Anakin, blah blah blah, Anakin grew up to betray them all and become a Sith, Luke got born, he ended up fighting the Sith, figured out that his father was one, turned Anakin back, Anakin killed Sidious, who was his new master, Sidious created approximately a billion universes, he contacted different ones to try to control each universe, each of which had one tiny variable to see if what that would change, the one I assume was yours was an asteroid, which ended up saving Qui-Gon's life, but Obi-Wan accidentally kept seeing visions of different universes while the true Sidious was trying to contact other ones, so he, Qui-Gon, and Anakin managed to stop Sidious in this universe, but not before Ani and Luke got stuck here, so now he's trying to come back and rule all the other ones and using this universe as a place to keep all the people that he wants out of his way, and we were accidentally seeing the other universes, but he decided to take us as his apprentice, so now I'm training with him so I can lead the Sidis while he's away, and the Sith while he's leading the Sidis."

"Was that all one sentence?" asked Tiv, ignoring how long that story must have been if that was the short version.

Tivania frowned. "Yes, I think it was. Did you understand it?"

Tiv nodded. "I did, but I didn't quite get one thing. Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why are you so caught up in gaining control over everything?"

Tivania didn't even pause to consider the weight behind this question. "Because the universe is a chaotic place, and someone needs to bring order to it. Everything needs to be controlled. Do you remember Berry and Tassel?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Tiv. "I was with them just two minutes ago."

"They always try to race outside every time anyone opens the door, right?"

"Yes…" Tiv wasn't sure where this was going.

"Well, why did we never let them?"

"Because if they got outside, someone would step on them, or they'd get lost."

"And you don't want to lose them, correct?"

"Of course not!"

"Well, that's exactly what it is with people. If left to their own devices, they'd manage to destroy themselves. That's what the Sith are doing. Saving them from themselves. Protecting them, just as you protect you kittens, or Qui-Gon used to protect you."

"Us, don't you mean," Tiv shot back. "He protected _us_, and he died doing it. Why can't you see that, see what really happened?"

"And _what_ really happened?" asked Tivania patronizingly.

"Your… our master died, and we were scared, and lost. Nobody would accept us, so we were lonely, too. Then an evil man came and told us good things about how he was trying to protect people from themselves, and how we could help, and how valuable we would be to his cause, and we drank it all up, because we were scared and lost and lonely. We followed his orders, even when it meant lying to our friends, or going years without seeing the people we cared about, until we finally found that we didn't even care about them anymore.

"But we didn't resist, because we didn't want to be alone again, and we just got deeper and deeper into it until we could pull out. And finally, when our usefulness was over with, and it came time for him to share some of the rewards that he got from all our hard work, he discarded us, like a sweater that was too small. And this time, we really _were_ alone, because all our friends who we _hadn't_ killed hated us now for what we had done. And they were right."

Tivania swallowed, but only said sarcastically, "That hasn't happened."

"It will. Believe me, it will. But," Tiv leaned forwards. "It's not too late yet. You can still go back, join the other side. You can still do all the things you said you did. You can still be who you promised your master you would be."

Tivania stiffened. "You know nothing of that."

"Remember, I was in your mind. I saw what you said to him as he died. I also saw what Sidious said."

"What does it matter what he said? It means nothing now!"

"It shows who he really is," Tiv protested. "And who you really are, if you don't care about that."

"I thought you said we were the same person," Tivania said, at loss for anything else to say.

"Perhaps we are," Tiv said softly. "I, for one, hope that I turn out very differently than you."

Tivania glanced away. "So do I," she whispered.

So, what'd you think? By the way, with what Tivania said to explain her trying to control the universe, the thing about the kittens, I have nothing against indoor cats, I have two of them myself. Also, I'm leaving today to go on vacation, so I'll try to post when I get back. Originally, this was just going to be a short one so that I wouldn't leave you with a cliffy, but it turned out to be eight pages long. Hope you don't mind. Anyway, hope you liked their diabolical plan. Normally, I'm not very good at writing the evil stuff, especially around the holidays, so I'm not sure if that actually made any sense, what they're planning to do. I'd tell you more, but I don't want to spoil the ending, especially one I haven't thought up yet! Yes, I have no idea how Tiv's going to get out of this one. If you have any ideas, please tell me. Anyway, I'll update when I get back. See you later!


	25. Someone's Deathbed

The first thought that crossed Ani's mind when he entered Qui-Gon's apartments was how it seemed like someone's deathbed. Glancing around, his thought was confirmed.

Yoda and Mace Windu were there, bending over something Ani couldn't see, talking in low voices. Qui-Gon, obviously having recently been kicked out of their conference, was pacing the room, with Taun We, Padmé, and Anakin talking quietly to him. Luke, Leia, and Boba were talking to Colac with an encouraging air, while the boy was huddled in a corner, looking terrified. And Jar Jar was dancing worriedly around Windu and Yoda, trying to see whatever it was that they were looking at.

Involuntarily, Ani pressed himself against his master's side. Obi-Wan gave his shoulder a squeeze and hurried over to his master and friends. Shaking his head, scolding himself for needing his master's protection, Ani walked over to his own friends.

"What's wrong?" he asked them as he came up behind them. All four looked up. Colac had tears running down his face, Leia seemed confused, Boba angry, and Luke's eyes were bright as if he was trying not to cry. Ani took all of this in with hidden panic. What could make his friends react this way?

Nobody answered his question. They just stared at him, as if they were seeing a ghost.

"Where's Tiv?" asked Ani with a sick feeling, noticing that she was missing.

That, at least, got a reaction out of them. Luke flinched, Leia started shaking, Boba's frown deepened, and Colac started to wail.

"Quiet him, you must, or leave, he will have to!" cried Yoda angrily, whirling on them. "Concentrating, we are! Lose your friend, you might, if distracted, we are."

"Alright, alright, I'm going," snapped Luke, picking up Colac. He didn't seem to have as much trouble carrying the eight-year-old as Ani thought he would. Utterly confused, he followed his friend out.

"What's going on?" demanded Ani as Luke put Colac down in the corridor. A few Jedi poked their heads out of their rooms and glared at the crying child, so Luke took his hand and led him towards the lift.

"Tiv disappeared," explained Luke finally. Ani glanced down, wondering if Colac would be further upset by this, but the boy didn't seem to be listening.

"What? Where? I mean, do we know? Well…"

"She's still in there," Luke told him, jerking his head back at the room they had just left. The trio entered the lift, and Ani pressed the button for the bottom floor.

"We don't know what happened, but we think it may have something to do with… what happened to Master Kenobi a few years ago."

Colac sniffled, glaring at the Jedi meandering about the floor they were on, so the boys reentered the lift, and Ani pressed a random button.

"Master Qui-Gon found her sitting in a chair, staring off into space a few hours ago. He wasn't able to wake her up. Since he had invited everyone to dinner earlier, when people started to show up, he had to explain what was going on. After a while, somebody called Yoda, and Taun We tried to contact your master, since he'd had the most experience with this sort of stuff. Master Qui-Gon only had a few of those vision things, remember? Anyways, we couldn't find you or your master, and when Colac showed up, he started freaking out, so Boba, Leia and I have spent the entire time trying to calm him down."

"Oh." Ani took a moment to digest this. Finally, he asked, "Do we know what happened to her?"

"We think that she's been having those vision things that your master used to get, and she somehow got… stuck in them. At least, that's what I _think_ they said. I'm not quite sure…"

"Has anyone thought to call a healer?" demanded Ani. Luke stared at him, shocked by the sudden display of logic from someone so… illogical.

"Erm… Not really, no. No, I don't think anyone has. They're not trying to keep it quiet, either," he added, anticipating his friend's next question.

"Then let's go up to the Healer's Wing and find one," suggested Ani. Luke nodded, and pressed the button to bring them to that floor. Colac abruptly stopped crying.

"Can a Healer help?" he asked in a childish voice that Ani couldn't remember him ever using before.

"We think so," Luke answered. "They're good at that sort of stuff, and well… it's their job… and…"

"Yes," Ani confirmed. "They have more experience than any of us, and they've probably seen things like what happened to Tiv millions of times."

"I bet the only reason nobody remembered hearing about anything like it was because nobody's ever died or been hurt permanently by this," added Luke. "So Tiv'll be okay, Colac. Don't worry."

"I won't," he answered, looking up at them with such faith that Ani begged the Force that he was right about this.

The lift door opened onto the Healer's Wing to reveal a considerably more dry-eyed Colac, and a very worried Ani and Luke.

Stepping out of the lift, the three boys almost ran into Obi.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Ani, tipping over.

"Woops," said Obi, grabbing the boy by the arm. "Sorry about that one. Didn't see you there."

"That's okay," Ani answered, straightening up with Obi's help. "Where were you going?"

"Down to Master Qui-Gon's apartments," explained the young Jedi. "One of the healers said something to him that she didn't quite explain, and I just got her to explain it to me, so I wanted to tell him. Where are _you_ going?"

"Here," Luke told him. "Something bad happened, and we wanted to get a healer."

"What happened?" asked Obi, looking suddenly worried.

"Tiv got still and was staring into space," Colac informed him. "Master Jinn can't wake her up, but the healers are going to be able to help. We have to find one."

"I'll come with you," offered Obi, "If you'll explain what's going on in more detail."

"Deal," said Luke, grinning in spite of his worry. The four of them turned and left the lift. Nobody sensed that they were being watched.

Sorry that's sort, I just got home and haven't had a chance to unpack yet. My kittens are driving us all crazy by trying to kill each other. Anyway, the vacation was good, blah blah blah, I got all my Christmas shopping done, and then figured out that my aunt and cousins are coming, so I have to get _more_ Christmas shopping done, and now I'm just typing things up instead of unpacking or doing any of the other things that maybe I should actually get done. Bye! PS Please review.


	26. Don't Turn Out Like Me

"So now what?" asked Tiv. She and Tivania had spent several hours trying to figure out what exactly was going on. They had come to the conclusion that they really _were_ from different universes, and had finally agreed on what had been changed in each of theirs. By now, they were completely at a loss for what to do.

"Well… we should try to send you back…" began Tivania.

"Oh, and I'm _sure_ you have the _exact_ way of doing that, don't you?" retorted Tiv.

Tivania frowned. "Now, I'm sure _I_ wasn't that sarcastic. How did _you_ get to be?"

Tiv shrugged. "I dunno. Must've picked it up somewhere that you weren't."

"Well, where were you that I wasn't?" demanded Tivania.

"I guess nowhere. Maybe you just don't remember it well enough."

"Yeah, it's all _my_ fault, isn't it?"

Tiv grinned happily. "See? You can be sarcastic, too! I bet you just lost it when you joined the Dark Side!"

"Is that really something to be happy about?" asked Tivania.

"Yes!" exclaimed Tiv. "It shows that you're really the same person that I am, just… older."

"And that's a good thing… why?"

"Because it means that you can still turn back to the good side." Tiv shifted in her perch on the arm of a chair. Tivania was on the bed, and right now, Tiv envied her, if only for the fact that she was substantial enough to actually sit down. She wondered if that meant that this was all just a dream. But it seemed so real… like most dreams do… _oh, shut up_, she ordered the stubborn part of her brain that still refused to believe that this was real. After all, whether it was real or not, there wasn't really all that much that she could do about it. She wasn't at all sure how to get back home.

Tivania frowned invisibly. She wasn't quite sure that she really _did_ want to go back to the 'good side', as Tiv put it. Although, she wasn't even sure that Tiv was real, instead of just some projection. Maybe Tiv was an illusion made by the Jedi. Could they have noticed that she was lying to them? Impossible! Her master would never have made a mistake such as that… would he? Never! _Oh, shut up,_ she ordered the stubborn part of her brain that still refused to believe that Tiv was real. After all, whether she was real or not, there wasn't really all that much Tivania could do about it. She wasn't at all sure how to send her back home.

"Wait… when did you go over to the Dark Side?" demanded Tiv suddenly.

"_We_ went over when _we_ were fifteen, why?" responded Tivania.

Tiv frowned. "There should be an age limit," she muttered.

Tivania uttered a barking laugh. "What? Must be eighteen or older to turn traitor?" she asked.

"Something like that," admitted Tiv with a small grin. Her smile faded as she added, "But there's one thing I don't understand."

"Only one?"

"Well, only one that I'm going to bother you with right now. If the variable in my universe caused Master Qui-Gon to survive, what was it in _your_s that made him stay alive?"

Tivania shrugged. "Hard to say. In your universe, an asteroid destroyed the planet that would have occupied the attention of the Federation for another year before they blocked trade to Naboo, and also would have been the vacation spot for the only man in Mon Espa willing to teach blaster fighting to an eight year old Anakin, who ended up saving Qui-Gon's life. At least, that's what my master tells me."

Tiv decided not to make any rude comments about Tivania referring to Sidious as her master, as opposed to Qui-Gon, who, besides being a much better master, had died to save her.

"So, how does…" before she could ask any question, a loud blaring noise coming from somewhere interrupted her, followed by a flashing red light.

"What's going on?" she asked, irrationally frightened. She was insubstantial, how could she be hurt?

Tivania was staring at the door with a shocked expression on her face. "It's starting," she whispered.

"What is?" demanded Tiv. Snapping out of it, her older self was suddenly businesslike.

"This universe is unstable. It's holding together all of the others, controlling all of the transfers between worlds… Sidious thought that he could keep it together until he didn't need it anymore, and then let it go, but he was wrong."

"Just like that?" Tiv asked. "Just, let it go? What about all the innocent people here?"

Tivania wondered for a split second whether she had ever been so naïve, and what had changed. But that was a foolish question. What had changed was that she was now a Sith, and Sith didn't care about innocent bystanders. Jedi did.

"Tiv, I'd be happy to explain to you the inner workings of a Sith Master's mind as well as I understand them, but right now, you have to leave."

"Why?" she asked. "I'm insubstantial, remember? I can't be hurt."

"But, if the universe blows up, then you'll be destroyed as well as the rest of us," Tivania retorted. "Now get going!"

"Where?"

"There's a portal that Sidious has been using to transport people in and out of other worlds recently. Down the hall to the right as far as you can go, then out the door, and you can't miss it." In some, Sithy part of her mind, Tivania wondered why she was giving directions to her master's most sacred place to a Jedi.

But then, her master… her _new_ master, had never been kind to her, never cared, not like Qui-Gon had, before he had died. Died protecting her.

"_So fitting. So fitting that the greatest and most loyal Jedi of all time died to protect the daughter of a Sith." _Wasn't that what Sidious had said? Was that the way she was, trusting the man who had sent her master to his death, and hadn't even had the decency to feign sadness? Tiv needed help, and if Sidious didn't want her to have any, well, he could just go swimming on Kamino!

"Thank you," Tiv said, giving her future self a hug as well as she could manage.

"Yeah, just don't turn out like me," Tivania told her gruffly.

Tiv smiled warmly. "Not much chance of that," she teased.

"Nice, Tiv. Now get out of here, before the place comes down around our ears!"

Tiv got.

Okay, everyone, I am very, very sorry that I couldn't update sooner. My dad installed a new pellet stove that stunk up the den so I couldn't type, then I had writer's block, then the computer was down, then I got sick and had to have surgery, then my aunt died. And now I've got a short chapter. I just can't think of any way to connect the things I want to happen in the same chapter, so sorry. Please review, all that stuff, hope you like it.


	27. Perfect Sense

Sorry about the wait (again). Family crisis, schoolwork, you get the drill. Anyway, there should be one more chapter after this, and then I'm thinking of making a sequel. Anyone have any opinions on that? Also, I'd like to know if this chapter makes any sense. In case it wasn't obvious, normal font is the universe we're used to, _italics are Tivania's universe_. Count Dooku and a younger version of somebody also make guest appearances. Any guesses who? Reviews welcome.

Obi hurried down the corridor, making sure not to trip over the three boys running in front of him. They reached the door to Qui-Gon's rooms, and the boy called Ani opened them impatiently. Healer Myra slipped past them with a calmness that belied the expression Obi recalled when the boys had told her, tripping over each other in their rush to get the words out, what was happening.

The scene that met their eyes was not an optimistic one. Yoda and Windu were bent over what Obi assumed to be Tiv, while Boba and Padmé were talking comfortingly to Leia, who seemed to have had a breakdown as soon as she hadn't had to worry about Colac.

Taun We had Qui-Gon's arm in a death grip, while Jar Jar was holding one of the two kittens and looking dejected. Obi would later learn that the Council members had just recently sent him away from their discussion.

Obi-Wan and Anakin, deep in a discussion, were the only ones to look up as the newcomers entered. They barely glanced at one another before Anakin hurried over to his master, and Obi-Wan to the five of them.

Myra excused herself to go examine Tiv, while Obi-Wan attempted to extract some kind of information out of his friends.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Obi figured out what that one healer meant when she was told Qui-Gon that there had been no noticeable Force surges in the area after Tiv became Force-sensitive except (insert long pause here)" Luke explained.

"What?" demanded Qui-Gon, coming over with Taun We and Anakin. Luke glanced at Obi, inviting him to do the talking.

"Since the Force surge that brought Ani and Luke here and gave him," he jerked his head at Obi-Wan, still slightly confused about using names, "his visions."

Qui-Gon fell silent for a moment, and then nodded. "It makes sense," he whispered. "Perfect sense."

_Tiv cursed in every language she knew as she darted down the halls. There was no _way_ that this would ever work. She should have seen it from the beginning._

_It was odd, really. The entire time that Tiv had been with the Jedi as Qui-Gon's apprentice, she had never once wanted to be there. Had an opportunity come by to rid herself of them, she would have taken it immediately. But now, looking at what she became without the Jedi, she resolved never to leave them._

They say the grass is always greener, but this is ridiculous_, thought Tiv. How is this ever going to work?_

_Tivania had said that the universe was unstable because it was holding the other worlds together, or trying to. But Tiv was able to read between the lines, and as stupid as she had been with the Jedi, she wasn't about to make the same mistake with her own self._

_The universe was unstable because it was the portal between all the worlds. There were so many people from different universes who didn't belong there, that it was working about as well as Tiv's relationship with her friends had._

_If Tivania's universe was about to fall apart because of the trafficking, then how long would Tiv's, the dumpyard for Sidious, last?_

_By now, Tiv was wishing that her fooling around in her older self's mind had been restrained to memories. But she knew what would happen to her universe, and she knew what she was._

_The normal Tiv was odd enough. Between hating _both_ the Sith, _and_ the Jedi, she was somewhat of a freak on both sides. Her mother being a Sith made her even freakier. The fact that her father was a Jedi didn't help matters. A Dark Jedi, yes, but not a Sith, and therefore a freak. And a freak-maker._

_But the fact that Sidious had created a creature that could hold together all of the universes upon 'creating' _them_ was too much. Especially when that creature had killed the real Tiv and taken her place._

_So Tiv was Sidious' minion, created only to serve him. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen. She may not be the most loyal of the Jedi, she may not even ever manage to complete her training, she may not _be_ a Jedi, but she was _not_ a Sith!_

_And she never would be. If her sole function was to create instability in a universe, then she would journey to Sidious'. If she was a weapon, she would turn on her creators. But she would _not_ kill her friends, even unwittingly._

_And that was something Sidious hadn't counted on._

Qui-Gon had told the Council members everything. And now they had called in their resident expert on the Sith: Count Dooku.

"Yes, I think I remember something of the sort," the ex-Sith mused. "A creature, created by Darth Sidious after he put all his alternate universes in place. It was a shape-changer, designed to send universes into chaos. Sidious would target a universe, and then send this creature to it.

"The creature would kill someone, and take its form. As it would also take its memories, it would have no clue as to what it was until its master contacted it."

Qui-Gon found it a small comfort that his apprentice hadn't known what she was doing when helping the Sith destroy their universe.

"But just before I… left… Sidious realized something. The seemingly harmless girl that his creature had impersonated had recently acquired Force-sensitivity."

"How?" demanded Mace Windu with his usual charm.

Dooku just shrugged. "He didn't say, sorry. Anyways, because the girl (Tiv) was Force-sensitive, Sidious could only contact her the normal way, the way he had contacted Obi-Wan." He gave the Jedi a nod, and Obi-Wan nodded back. But that was difficult for him, because there wasn't enough Force-energy where she was."

"Enough… okay, I'm lost," Padmé admitted. Dooku smiled at her kindly.

"Don't worry," he told her. "It's natural. I just meant that since Tiv didn't have enough people who were Force-sensitive or had been around people who were Force-sensitive around her for Sidious to draw off their energy to contact her.

"So when she met Boba, some of the energy that had been rubbed off on him from being in the Temple so often must have rubbed off on Tiv, enough for Sidious to contact her by means of the visions she saw."

"Tiv didn't see any visions," Qui-Gon said. Dooku looked surprised.

"Didn't she? I could have _sworn_ that she said she did…"

_Tivania closed her eyes with exhaustion. Her master made this projecting thing seem so easy… But she couldn't do it._

_No. She opened her eyes with an angry determination. She knew Tiv had read some of the story off of her, but if she couldn't project to Dooku, then the Jedi might _never_ get the full story. _

_Was she a creature created by Sidious or not? Okay, that hadn't sounded so good… But she was, and some of his talent _must_ have rubbed off on her. And right now, she would have to use it, whether he believed that she could or not._

_Perhaps if she made it obvious to the others in the room that she was projecting, and she was not Sidious, they would accept Dooku's 'instinct' on the subject. _

_Because she _had_ to project the full story to them. Tiv wouldn't have time when she got home to explain her part and hear the bits and pieces told by her friends and put it all together. She would have to leave immediately._

_Tivania _knew_ she could do _something_ over distances. What about Obi? He had been such a close friend to her that, when he arrived in Tiv's universe so badly injured, she had managed to heal him across the worlds without disturbing anything. _

_And she had done it. Obi was fine, even if she _hadn't_ managed to do it in a surreptitious way. Stealth didn't matter when lives were at stake._

_So Tivania had managed that, and she would manage this. She had to. Perhaps Tiv would never fully understand who and what she was, but she _would_ know at least a quick summery of the story. _

_Because Tivania herself hadn't learned her identity until a few years ago. And, no matter how many gaps it had filled, no matter how happy she _thought_ she was with the Sith, Tivania knew that if she had been given a choice, she never would have let any of this happen._

_And it wouldn't happen to Tiv. With a new determination, Tivania closed her eyes and began to project._

"She did," Obi-Wan said with a sudden surety. The others gave him an odd look, but then slowly, one by one, it dawned on them.

Even the non-Force users among them could feel it. Tiv, or someone who 'felt' extraordinarily like her, was projecting the story, and Dooku could sense it. Yoda nodded, giving his former Padawan silent permission to continue with the story in any way Tiv sent it to him.

"Tiv had her first vision just has Boba came into 'range' of her. The visions got stronger and more often as she spent more time in the Temple, until she was a physical presence in them. But Sidious could only project visions of the 'real' universe, not of what she was. If he had… Tiv would have been faced with a very difficult choice much too soon.

"But she wasn't, and that's that. Sidious could control her in the visions, making sure that she looked at what he wanted her too and thought of it exactly as he required. Soon, he could even influence a small bit of her mind into arguing with her common sense.

"She got catapulted to another universe, one where Tiv ended up joining the Sith. She was in the mind of her older self. I think the idea was that she would see how much happier she was with Sidious than with us, and follow the path he had dictated.

"But that wasn't how it worked out. Tiv instead convinced her older self that what she was doing was wrong, and turned her back to our side. And now, Tivania is projecting the story to me."

_Tiv charged down halls and stopped quickly as she spotted something that she had recognized from Tivania's mind. The portal was there, yes, but it was blocked by a very deep trench. _

_The trench was small enough for Tiv to jump across, but it was what was curled up in front of it that caught her attention._

_A little boy, brown haired, with a Padawan's braid sticking out at odd angles. He couldn't have been more than five. And, it was as obvious as the braid on his head, that he wasn't from this world._

"_I can't jump across," he said pitifully as she came near. Tiv's heart went out to him, although her instincts cried out for her to leave him behind._

_She didn't bother to wonder why he had trusted her so impeccably without even knowing her. He was just a child, after all._

"_C'mon!" Tiv cried, grabbing his arm and lifting him up. Clutching the little child in her arms, she jumped across…_

Luke glanced up as a little boy landed on the floor with a 'thump'. At the same exact moment, Tiv stirred sleepily.

"She's back."


	28. Goodbye

"Qui-Gon Jinn," the child said. Tiv blinked. She hadn't expected an answer like _this_ when she had asked the little boy his name.

"That's my…" began Qui-Gon, but Dooku cut him off.

"It _is_ you! Look at him, he looks exactly like you did at that age," the elderly master exclaimed excitedly. Looking closer, Qui-Gon realized that it was, indeed, his younger self.

"Well, Master, _we_ all got tiny demonic versions of ourselves, now you have yours," Anakin gibed, elbowing Ani and extracting a glare and a stifled smile from the teenager.

Qui-Gon glowered at his former apprentice, but then relaxed into a smile, realizing that Anakin was right. He turned to Tiv, preparing to ask her something, but was stopped by the look on her face.

"What is it?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder like a concerned master does. To his surprise, Tiv flinched away. It was a habit that they thought they had broken their newest member of. It seemed that it wasn't.

"Did… do you… never mind."

"Now don't do that, Tiv," Obi-Wan chided, coming over to stand besides his master. "Either tell us what you were going to say, or don't start saying it."

"And as it's a little late for the latter, just go with the former," Anakin added, joining the other two.

Tiv hesitated a moment, so another member of their group decided to put in his two credits.

"Tell us, you must," Yoda ordered. "Important, it may be."

The girl grinned at her friends. "I was just looking for the right way to phrase it," she lied. "Did you figure out anything while I was gone?"

"About who…what… you are? Yes."

"I… well, I mean…. I'm not sure how… No…. I know I have to…."

"Leave?" asked Qui-Gon quietly. Tiv dipped her head, but quickly turned the gesture into a nod.

"From the little I can tell," Dooku interrupted suddenly. "If anyone can get you out of this universe, you can."

Tiv nodded again. She wondered briefly if she should suggest the idea she had had… but it would be cruel to take Luke and Ani with her. Even if, as outsiders from another world, they were endangering the entire universe with their mere presence… She couldn't take them away. This was where they belonged, no matter _where_ they were born.

"Tiv," a soft voice said. She looked up and, to her surprise, saw Anakin giving her a look, with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon standing nervously behind him. Well, maybe nervous wasn't the word, but there was something decidedly uneasy about their stance.

"Tiv, we were talking, and we wondered… Is there anyway for you to know if Palpatine is really destroyed by all this? We saw it through your eyes, Tivania managed to give that to us, but… Will he come back?"

The young Jedi closed her eyes for a moment. Was he gone? Palpatine, Sidious, her master, her creator, was he dead?

_No_, the answer came back. _No, he's not. And all of this place was endangered. Everywhere… he hadn't created these universes to lose them to the Jedi. We can't defeat him, because everywhere we go, that's his home territory. We can't hope to win. Ever._

"No," she replied, trying to keep her voice level. "He's not gone, he'll come back. Again and again… we can't fight him. Master, what do we do?" she begged Qui-Gon, turning to him.

Qui-Gon hesitated. He looked around at his friends, his family… Anakin, brave, cocky Anakin, the turning point of this universe. Sarcastic, reliable Obi-Wan, stubbornly determined to win this war. Imposing, mysterious Dooku, his old master, the one he turned to for help… why did he look so helpless? Old, wise Yoda, with the same look on his face. Good, brave Mace, his old friend… even he didn't know what to do.

Taun We, the intelligent, empathetic one… Padmé, the kind, motherly one… Jar Jar, the cheerful one… Luke, the sensitive, confused one… oh, he looked _too_ confused! Ani, the prankster… Boba, the big brother… Leia… curious enough to get into trouble, sensible enough to stay out… Colac, the playful one… Obi, the quiet, suspicious Knight thrown into more responsibility than he was ready for… And Tiv, the mystery, the Sith-child… why her?

Why any of them? Yes, they were Jedi… some of them. _Some_ of them had chosen this path. _Some_ of them had known what they were in for. But even then… The fate of the universe, of so many _different_ universes… It should be left to storybook heroes, if anyone at all. Not to them.

Some too old, some too young, nobody ready, nobody ever ready. They weren't.

"_Rain? River?"_

"_Cats don't like water."_

"_How do you know?"_

"_What kind of name is that?"_

"_What?"_

"_No, I am not naming a kitten 'what'_?"

"_Master!… Master Jinn, it's good to see you!"_

"_No need to be that formal with your old master, Obi-Wan."_

"_If you did… die…"_

"_I certainly _feel_ like I fell off a balcony. And into a bantha stampede."_

"_I followed the rules, unlike _some_ people."_

"_Oh, Anakin's not so bad…"_

"_I wasn't talking about Anakin."_

"_Five _other_ Bens? Your name is Obi-Wan, how could there be five _other _Bens?"_

"_OH, MY FORCE, THEY'RE EVIL TRIPLETS!"_

"_Yeah!"_

"_Or the mostest, worstest place on the mostest, worstest planet!"_

"_Nothing of importance, I'm sure. Nothing like defeating Sith or helping people or protecting the peace. None of those boring, useless things people think Jedi do."_

"_Like be sane?"_

"_Well, if you poke a wasp's nest, the wasps come out and sting you. But how do they know? Is it some sort of wasp thing, or is it something else? So I went around poking all sorts of nests."_

"_Bye, Tic."_

"_He always cared. About anyone. Whether he knew them or not. I guess that was his real defining trait. It's what everyone loved about him."_

So many years. So many memories. These people, his friends… what right did any one person have to decide the fate of many?

But it had to fall on _someone's_ shoulders. There were no storybook heroes to come and take the responsibility and never have trouble with any of them. That just never happened.

It would have to. Today, tomorrow, no matter when, these hard decisions had to be made eventually. And, as clichéd as it was,someone had to do it.

_Just because we're Jedi, does that mean we always have to be right? Just because we're seen as heroes, does that mean that we have to have so many people looking up to us and depending on us? Why? Who decided this? I want to help people, but I know I'm not perfect. That's what these people need. A hero who never fails... Why are we the ones who have to try? _

Obi-Wan had asked him that once. How old had he been? No older than Tiv was now, certainly. What had he said? Had he answered it correctly?

_We aren't always right, and we _will_ fail, or die, or lose sight of our goals, sometimes when it seems to be the most important time. I can't tell you why, or who decided it, just that people say it's the will of the Force. Whether that's true or not, it's certainly easier to have someone or some_thing_ to look up to and to depend on. That can't last forever, but it's easier. But so many people refuse to learn… I don't know, Obi-Wan. All I know is that we have to try. And if you admit that you're not perfect, you're much more what these people need than the distant hero that they envision._

And he had been right. None of them were perfect, but _all_ of them were definitely better than nothing.

"_What happens, happens, and we'll have to live with it whether we did it in another universe or not."_

"We'll never win," Qui-Gon whispered, the realization suddenly hitting him. Looking around at his friends, he realized that, while some of them had obviously just realized it, some had known it from the beginning.

_So different… We're all so different! If it weren't for the circumstances, I don't think we'd ever have become friends. Silver lining, I guess, but I still know that it's wrong. Very, very wrong._

"Stop Sidious, we must," Yoda agreed.

"Master?" It was Tiv.

"Master, are… should…" the girl took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. "Are we supposed to be here?"

_Good girl! I never would have thought of that at her age… I was never a Sith construct, either. Tiv's had it rough, but she pulled through for us. Good girl._

Qui-Gon looked around at his friends and saw the answer written on their faces.

"No, Tiv, we're not," he answered softly. "We're not."

"Then we have to leave," Ani asserted.

_Oh, Ani. Everything's so simple for you… But you always know where to look for the answers. I'll miss you, Ani._

"Tiv?" asked Luke. "Can you get us out of here?"

_Luke, the quiet one, the prankster with a heart…So many people thought that you'd crumble under any sort of pressure. Thank you, Luke, for proving them wrong._

Tiv took another deep, steadying breath, and nodded.

"It won't be enough," whispered Leia.

_Ah, Leia. I wish I'd have time to know you better. You would have grown up to be so good… so good…_

"We'll _all_ have to leave," Obi said, keeping his voice calm with an obvious effort.

_I'm sorry I had to leave you in your universe, Obi. You meant so much to me… you'll never know. You'll never know anything, ever again._

Tiv looked around, expecting to see stunned, angry faces. But instead, she saw calmness everywhere.

These people were goodness solidified, she decided. They had been told that they had to watch their universe be destroyed to keep it out of the Sith's hands, and they pulled through, always doing what was right, no matter how hard it was.

Storybook heroes never had to do this sort of things.

_But we do_, Tiv realized suddenly. _We do, and we did._ These people… her friends, might be strange, and so different that nobody would ever expect friendship out of them, they might each have their weaknesses, but put them together…

A few days after her arrival, Luke and Ani had dragged her over to Anakin's apartments when they realized that she didn't know any of the music they listened to. The lyrics to one of the songs kept running though her head.

"_Nobody said it was easy_

_Oh, it's such a shame for us to part._

_Nobody said it was easy._

_No one ever said it would be so hard."_

Well, whether anyone had said so or not, it was this hard, and they'd just have to deal with it.

_What's wrong with me?_ Tiv wondered. _I'm a Sith construct. I was created to kill these people! Why don't I want to leave them?_

_Because they're good. Gooder… Better than me, certainly. But I have to. If I really care about them, I have to leave them, because that's the only way that they'll win. We'll win. Because I care about this war, too. I shouldn't, or at least, shouldn't care about _their_ point of view, but I do. And so I have to._

"The end of the universe," whispered Anakin dramatically. The joke that would have once sparked laughter and more jokes sounded hollow in the silent room.

Obi-Wan looked at his friends. Nobody looked ready to step up and be the hero. Nobody looked ready to do anything but accept the inevitable.

They would never win. Never. And if they wanted to keep the universes out of Sidious' hands, they would have to destroy them.

Drastic? Yes. Desperate? Definitely. Right? Maybe. Time would tell, but so far, all they knew was that they couldn't let Sidious win. Ever.

_I want to believe that one day, we'll look back on all this and laugh. Master Qui-Gon will pat Tiv on the arm and say that it's a good thing that she was willing to destroy the universe for us. And Anakin will laugh and ask if that's really such a good thing. And then we'll be off on another one of our rambling, joking conversations that have so little meaning to a casual listener, and so much meaning to us._

_But we won't. Because you can't look back on the destruction of the universe and laugh. Not even smile slightly. Because this will be the end._

_I never thought that it would end this way. I had mulled over so many possibilities, just so that I would never have to say that. But I had never, never even considered that my death would be when the universe was destroyed, and I had _wanted_ it that way. I had helped. I never thought… I never thought it would be right._

"This wasn't they way that it was supposed to be," whispered Taun We. No matter what angle they looked at it, that was the only way to say it. Their entire existence was just plain _wrong_.

"Then we do it," Padmé said determinedly. She had been keeping quiet, out of the conversation that was so far over her head, only to realize that it was so simple after all. So simple… so right.

"Oh, oh!" cried Jar Jar. "So, so terrible! Mesa tremblin' in my booties! But what's so, so terrible is good! And what's so, so happyful is bad! Big, baddy Sith want it, and wesa can't give it to 'em!"

_Never have I thought that Jar Jar would be ever to paraphrase one of our long, ethical discussions so efficiently. I guess you ever really know anyone as well as you think you do. I wish I had more time._

"Tiv?" asked Boba in a softer voice than Obi-Wan had ever heard him use. "Can you do it?"

Tiv closed her eyes. She didn't _want_ to be able to do it… but she had to at least try, for these people. For her friends.

"No," she whispered. "Not yet. I can get us out of here, and I can… destroy this universe, but not from here."

"Not just _this_ universe," Qui-Gon reminded her. "All of them."

"Every last one," Colac agreed solemnly.

Qui tugged on Dooku's sleeve. "Master?" he whimpered. "What's going on?"

Dooku smiled down at the child. "We're discussing the future, Qui-Gon," he said. "We have to destroy the universe, and the one you came from, and hundreds of others just to keep it from the Sith."

It was obvious from his tone of voice that he didn't like it. But he knew that this was the way things had to be, and he would do it.

The tiny version of Qui-Gon considered this for a moment. "Will there be anything left?" he asked finally in a small voice. "'Cause if there isn't, it won't be worth it."

"Yes," Windu interrupted before Dooku could say anything. "There'll be the original universe, the only one that wasn't created by the Sith Lord. And in that universe, we've already won."

It was unclear whether or not Windu remembered that there was no 'we' anymore, and the Jedi had all been killed by the Chosen One. Either way, he didn't say anything; and nobody reminded him.

"Than that's what we should do," Qui announced determinedly. He paused and squinted at Windu. "You know, you look a lot like my friend. His name's Mace Windu. Do you know him?"

Before the poor Councilor had to answer that, Tiv interrupted.

"If we're going to leave, we should do it now. I can feel the Sith gaining power in other universes. They can sense what happened to their leader, and they might realize who was responsible."

"Tiv, let me come with you!" begged Colac. He grabbed onto his sister's arm and glared at the gathering adults, as if expecting one of them to try to pry him away.

Tiv stroked his hair, considering. Before she had to explain to him that he couldn't come with her, Obi broke in.

"You know, none of you, or your ancestors, or anything existed in my universe," he commented. Tiv looked up at him, her eyes begging for a solution. "Maybe… maybe you aren't supposed to exist at all."

Nobody should ever have to take that as good news. But Colac did.

"See, Tiv?" he pleaded. "I'm not supposed to be here! Let me come with you, _please_."

His sister laughed quietly. "Alright, Colac," she agreed. "Alright."

"It's time to go, isn't it?" asked Luke softly. Tiv nodded.

"It is."

The boys hugged their masters and exchanged a few half-hearted jokes with Boba, who clapped them each on the shoulder in farewell. They shared similar goodbyes with Padmé, Jar Jar, Qui-Gon, and Taun We. Bowing to the others, they went and stood by the couch, waiting.

Obi and Qui both hugged their respective 'masters', and Leia gave her own goodbyes to her new friends.

Tiv was surprised to find that when she went to say goodbye to Padmé, Jar Jar, and Taun We, they each had a hug for her.

Boba gave her a clap on the back and muttered 'Bye, Tic," in a quiet, depressed voice. Trying to smile, Tiv corrected him with her customary "It's _Tiv!_" Nobody was surprised to hear less annoyance in her voice than any of the other times.

Anakin patter her shoulder and muttered some uncharacteristic goodbye. Obi-Wan ruffled her hair and said something that nobody really paid any attention to, probably including Obi-Wan himself.

Tiv bowed to Dooku, Windu, and Yoda, who each had something kind to say.

Qui-Gon hugged his apprentice affectionately. "Goodbye, Tiv," he said, sounding older than Tiv had ever heard him.

Tiv forced herself to smile for her master. "Trust in the Force, Master," she told him. "We'll see each other again."

Hoping that she was right and trying desperately to believe her, Qui-Gon let his apprentice go.

Luke, Ani, Obi, Qui, Leia and Colac gathered in a tight circle around Tiv, blocking her from the onlookers' view.

There was no noise, no bright flashes of light, no smoke. With no fanfare, they disappeared from their friends' lives forever.

Later that day, reports came in from all over the Temple that everything that had ever belonged to those who left had disappeared without a trace.

But, as Qui-Gon would point out, they still had their memories.

Besides, Tassel and Berry, Tiv's two kittens, had stayed.

Luke and Ani were commemorated by the fact that Mace Windu's speeder never really worked properly again.

Padmé found some hidden candy in Colac and Leia's rooms.

And although nobody was sure whose voice it was whispering after their friends' departure, everyone agreed on what they said.

"Goodbye."

And so it ends. Boy, that was sappy. Anyone up for a third? And, to anyone who reviewed and commented on the slight… abundance of my characters, I had actually planned this end before reading your reviews, so if you don't like it, it wasn't your fault.

Wow. 103 pages. Anyway, _if_ I do a third in the series, I plan to finish it _before_ starting to post. And maybe see the movies again, since I haven't seen them in _ages_. That probably did _not_ help my updating speed… sorry if I was a little slow a couple of times.

By the way, the lyrics that Tiv remembers belong to Coldplay, I do not own any of their songs. Not even a measly CD. But they're good. I just so happened to be listening to their song _The Scientist_ while writing this, and it suddenly seemed to fit very well.

Hope you liked it. Please review this final chapter.

The End.


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